


If It Wasn't For You

by Ultra



Series: If It Wasn't For You [1]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, Dysfunctional Family, Epic, F/M, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Father Figures, Father-Daughter Relationship, Friendship/Love, Future Fic, Love, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Relationship(s), Returning Home, Surprises, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-03
Packaged: 2019-08-23 06:37:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 100,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16613792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: High school is tough enough for any sixteen year old girl, especially when she lives in Neptune and doesn't belong to the 09er crowd. For this teen in particular, life is about to get turned upside down, as it is proven that the truth will always out and it isn't always what you want to hear!





	1. Chapter 1

Another day at Neptune High, and she was not impressed. Most teenage girls would love the idea of heading off to school, no doubt looking forward to cheerleading practise or glee club, seeing that special boy or just hanging out with friends. Some even appreciated the classes they attended, enjoying their education immensely. She was just different to everyone else.

These were supposed to be the greatest years of her life, so she was told by adults she was sure barely remembered how tough High School could be. If they did remember, they did a good job of hiding it.

She sighed as she looked in the mirror at her appearance that didn’t thrill her. Being shorter than her friends was not her favourite thing, but it was slightly less depressing than her flat chest. Still, being a law man’s daughter had its perks. The local gang element thought twice about messing with her... or maybe that was more down to her Mom’s reputation?

“T.J.!” the call came up from the bottom of the stairs and the girl in question sighed.

“Think of the devil,” she muttered as she grabbed a hair tie from the night stand and pulled her boring mid-brown hair back into a ponytail “I’m coming!” she called back as she pulled up her book bag and headed out of her room.

Veronica heard the bedroom door slam and physically jumped. She ought to be used to the way her petite teenage daughter seemed to move round like a whole herd of elephants, and yet she still flinched at every door that clanged shut, and every stomp across the upstairs hallway. Almost sixteen years, and honestly, she wasn’t entirely sure she was used to the fact she was even a mother. She loved her baby girl, of course she did, but it seemed so weird that she had come this far, that it was so very long since Veronica was that age herself.

“Mom! Seriously?” T.J. called from the kitchen doorway then, snapping her mother out a daze she hardly noticed she’d fallen into. “You yell at me because we’re gonna be late and then you’re not even ready yet?” she checked.

“I don’t have to be ready, smarty pants.” Veronica smirked as she tied up the garbage bag in her hand and went towards the back door. “Your dad is driving you to school this morning because I have an early meeting.”

“Oh, cool.” Her daughter smiled amiably then.

She saw her father pretty often, considering her parents had been divorced since she was twelve. It was all weirdly friendly, no throwing dishes or discovery of torrid affairs. It was just like Mom and Dad decided they were better at being friends than being married, and that suited T.J. just fine.

Her father was only a few streets away and she could see him pretty much anytime she wanted. They even went out as a family sometimes, her and the parentals and Grandpa Keith too. Some of the others kids didn’t understand how T.J. could be so cool about coming from a broken home, but it never really felt broken to her, just different.

A car horn outside signalled that her father had arrived and T.J. turned to leave without a moment pause.

“Hold on a sec!” her Mom called after her, bringing her back into the kitchen. “Have a good day at school, honey,” said Veronica, giving her a one armed hug.

“Make sure you kick ass at your meeting,” her daughter replied, before turning to leave.

Veronica opened her mouth to berate her for her language, but stopped herself and only smiled. Her little girl was growing up fast, and if she could just keep her from becoming too much like herself, everything would be fine. Veronica wasn’t sure she could have dealt with herself as a teen and often wondered how her father did it. She had to have been quite the handful, behaving the way she did. T.J. was pretty tame in comparison, much more like the man that raised her really.

Shaking her head clear of the past, Veronica finished off cleaning up in the kitchen, grabbed her purse and practically ran out of the door. After chiding her daughter for almost being late for school, she was going to make the meeting with her latest client by the skin of her teeth. So much for being organised this morning!

* * *

“So, how’s the law business, Dad?” asked T.J. as she sat back in the front seat of the Sheriff’s patrol car and watched Neptune rush by the window. “Stuck enough perps in the can this week?” she teased.

“Happy to say we don’t have so many perps to throw these days.” He smiled at her phrasing that reminded him so very much of Veronica. “The best I got is busting a couple of kids from your school for possession,” he admitted. “Yet another reason to be happy you don’t mix with the 09er crowd.”

“Amen to that,” his daughter agreed. “I don’t even know how those people stand to be around themselves. As much as the cash might be cool sometimes, I could not deal being the daughter of one of those rich families. They’re all seriously depraved!”

“Teresa Jane D’Amato, me and your Mom raised you better than that,” Leo snapped a little then. “You don’t judge people by what social circle they have or what house they live in.”

T.J. had the good grace to look a little ashamed of herself then, but only a little.

“Trust me, I don’t make blanket statements lightly,” she assured him, “but I never met an 09er I could get along with, not ever.”

Leo bit his lip at that and chose not to say anymore. It wasn’t Teresa’s fault, she didn’t know any better than to see those people as her enemies. To explain it was to make life extremely complicated for everyone. Sometimes the truth was worth hiding, even a man of the law like him knew that.

“Your Mom should be around to pick you up at three if you need her,” he said as he pulled up around the corner from the school, “but if you’re getting a ride with one of your friends, remember to call or text her, okay?” he reminded her.

“Yes, Dad,” T.J. dutifully answered, not a hint of sarcasm somehow, despite the fact it was a little tiresome to be told stuff over and over at her age.

Sometimes she thought her parents saw a six year old rather than a young woman of almost sixteen when they looked at her. Still, it was kinda cool that they both cared that much. She knew enough kids who barely got any attention out of one parent, never mind two.

“Thanks for the ride, Dad.” She smiled as she leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek before dodging out of the car and hurrying down the street.

Leo shook his head as he watched her go. His little girl, all grown up. She would be sixteen in just a few short weeks and he could hardly believe how fast the time had gone. It seemed like only yesterday Veronica had told him she was pregnant. Even then, he’d had no idea how much that tearful announcement would change his life.

.

He just came by to check in with his boss. It was a pleasure for Leo to be working for Sheriff Mars again, and pretty much everyone was pleased to have him win the election over Vinnie Van Lowe a few weeks ago. Honestly, Leo was as glad to have Keith around for more than one reason, and Veronica was way up there at the top of the list. He had missed her, and some part of his heart was always waiting for her to want him back. It wasn’t that he expected it to happen so much as he just lived in hope, no matter how unlikely it seemed, or how much of a girl such thoughts made him!

Leo was surprised when he tapped on the door to the apartment and it came open all by itself. Immediately he was on the defensive, pulling out his gun and preparing himself for whatever might lay beyond the door. Still, he was not ready for the sight that met his eyes.

Veronica was sat on the floor, her back against the kitchen counter, crying like her heart would break. She almost never cried, Leo wasn’t so sure he ever saw it happen, at least not in sadness. Happy tears when her father was elected, that kind of thing, but never like this. She was one of the strongest people Leo had ever met in his life, so to see her in such a way now scared the life out of him.

“Veronica?” he approached her carefully. “What happened?” he asked desperately. “C’mon, please, tell me what’s wrong,” he urged her when she only continued to cry.

“I screwed up” she choked out eventually. “Leo, I really screwed up” she admitted, showing him the item that had been clutched in her hand this whole time, though he had not noticed it.

“Oh, man,” he reacted with evident surprise, hand going over his mouth as he realised she wasn’t exactly wrong about the screwing up part.

Veronica Mars was pregnant.

“I can’t believe I was this stupid,” she cried, smacking her hands hard against the floor in frustration. “It wasn’t supposed to happen.” She shook her head sadly, and Leo pulled her into a hug without a moments thought.

He didn’t know what to say to her, he just didn’t. This was not exactly an area of expertise for him. Sure, he’d comforted sobbing women in distress before, sometimes it was part of the job as a Deputy, but this was different, this was Veronica, and there was no easy fix to the dilemma she was facing.

“Is it... Is Logan Echolls the father?” he asked carefully.

It just didn’t make sense for it to be anyone else, and it would have been more of a surprise if Veronica hadn’t nodded her head in agreement then.

“The night before he left,” she admitted, sniffing hard, mindful of the fact she had already soaked her friend’s shoulder. “Leo, I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” she told him, fighting the urge to cry all over again. “I don’t know how I’m gonna tell my dad, and... and I just don’t know anything right now, and I’m terrified,” she admitted.

It took a lot for someone as tough as Veronica to say she was scared, Leo knew that better than anyone. Pulling her close and rubbing her back, he did his best to soothe her panic, but it wasn’t easy. He couldn’t wave a magic wand and take away the complications from Veronica’s life. She had options, the baby didn’t have to exist, but somehow Leo doubted she could easily go down the routes of abortion or adoption, that just wasn’t Veronica Mars.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he told her anyway, determined that somehow he would help her through this tough time. “I’m here, and I promise, I’m gonna make sure you’re okay.”

.

Leo had been as good as his word, he made sure of it. When he told Veronica everything was going to be okay, he committed to making it true for her. He understood she couldn’t love him the way he loved her, but that was okay. She cared enough for him that they made it work and between them they raised a decent teenage girl who was going to be a wonderful woman before long, just like her Mom.

“Get it together, man,” the Sheriff told himself aloud when he realised how long he had been sat here in his car, thinking of the past and staring into space.

Of course, even as he drove away, his mind was still whirring with too many thoughts. The past had been pretty good and the present wasn’t so bad either, but Leo always had a little fear in him when it came to the future.

One day, without warning, the truth could out. It was right and proper for kids to know who their real parents were, and Leo always thought he would stand behind any person who said so. When it came to his little girl (that wasn’t his at all), he prayed she never realised he was not her real Daddy, for her as well as his own sake, and for Veronica too. Leo told himself not to be so dumb. If all was still good after sixteen years, maybe he was worrying about nothing. Maybe.


	2. Chapter 2

The very moment that T.J. was spotted by her best friend, she was almost bowled over by Sam running into her and grabbing at her arm.

“Oh my God, T.J., isn’t it awesome?!” she enthused, making her friend smile in spite of herself.

Samantha Stratton had to be the most excitable person T.J. knew. Not all the time, because honestly if she was this giddy 24/7 there was no way the two girls would still be BFFs after all this time, but when something exciting happened, or at least something Sam perceived to be exciting, she was like a bug on a hotplate until the moment had passed.

“I might be at least a little enthusiastic if I knew what you were talking about, Sam,” T.J. told her, trying to keep on walking towards the door of the school, with her companion still hanging off her and bouncing around madly.

“You didn’t hear? It’s all over school already!” the blonde explained frantically. “Logan Echolls is coming back to Neptune!” she all but squealed.

T.J. remained unmoved.

“Okay.” She nodded once. “That’s... cool?” she tried, since clearly Sam was worked up into a frenzy.

“It’s more than cool, T.J., it’s awesome!” she insisted, before continuing to rattle on about the virtues of the guy in question.

Seriously, T.J. didn’t get it. The rich and famous were not of much interest to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t see any attractive features in the guys on TV, in movies, and in famous boy bands, but when it came to being uber-girly and fancying herself in love with someone like that, she just didn’t feel that way.

Sam changed celebrity crushes every other week, but in fairness where Logan Echolls was concerned, she was pretty steady in her so-called love and devotion. She owned the DVD of every movie the guy ever made, including a couple she had to have shipped from God knows where, and a couple more that weren’t even legal. She seemed to be over her massively obsessed phase, distracted as she was by the new faces in the movies and all, but it was clearly going to resurface now Mr Echolls was coming to town.

T.J. seriously didn’t get what it was about that guy. Sure, he wasn’t the ugliest person she ever saw, but she certainly didn’t find him hot. Maybe handsome, in an older person kind of way, but that was all. As for acting skills, she’d seen way worse. Most of his movies weren’t half bad, but Sam was besotted and T.J was sure she would never understand it.

When Sam continued to wax lyrical on the virtues of the great Logan Echolls, as the girls reached their lockers, T.J. waited for her friend to draw breath and cut in.

“Okay, woah, intervention time,” she declared, putting her hands up in a ‘stop right there’ kind of gesture. “I know you think you love this guy, Sam, and y’know, normally I don’t say much about it, but you cannot start stalking the man when he comes back here.”

“You think I’m the only one who wants a piece of him?” her friend countered, hands on her hips and indigence written on her face. “If I don’t make my move, someone else will.”

“Then let them,” T.J. told her. “Seriously, Sam, the guy is old enough to be your father,” she reminded her, moving to open up her locker and trade the books she had in her bag for those she needed first period.

“Like it matters.” Her friend rolled her eyes as she leant on the wall by the lockers and sighed. “Logan so doesn’t look that old, he’s just...” she fought to find an apt word and was clearly coming up empty.

“Too old, too conceited, and way out of your league, Sam,” said T.J. succinctly, shutting her locker door in time with the bell that began ringing, “We have to go to class,” she added fast before her friend had a chance to say anything else.

Turning around to walk down the hall, T.J. was not prepared for anyone to be in her path. Immediately she took a step she collided with the solid chest of a young man coming the other way. She opened her mouth to yell at him for getting in her way or at the very least not looking where he was going, but no sound came out when she glanced up and met his eyes.

“Watch where you’re goin’, little lady,” he told her, though he smiled when he said it and meant no harm apparently.

T.J. meant to reply with some kind of word of acknowledgement, but she just seemed dumbstruck for the few seconds he was stood there. The next she knew he was gone and Sam was at her side, grabbing her and pulling her towards class.

“Ugh, another stupid biker guy,” she complained. “How many of them do we actually have to endure? It’s not like they even come to class half the time, and I heard that...” she was rambling on again, and T.J. kind of zoned her out as she looked back over her shoulder to the guy she had just bumped into.

Perhaps he was one of the biker crowd, he certainly looked that way, a Latino type in a leather jacket and all. Still, her dad had reminded her only this morning that people should not be judged on their looks or even what social group they ran with. There was a good chance the new guy was perfectly nice and decent. T.J. already knew he was good looking, not hot to the nth degree and all that, but just good looking, with eyes she thought she might drown in and almost had just a few moments ago.

“Are you listening to me?” asked Sam as they got into the classroom and took their seats next to each other.

“No,” replied T.J. honestly, with a smile she couldn’t help, as class was called to order.

* * *

Veronica was already yawning as she came rushing in through the front door. She had lain awake much of the night going over and over one of her latest cases in her head. It was always the same, she got way too invested sometimes in the lives of those she was paid to help. The last few years, any tales of hard done by young mothers or children in distress really got to her. Even more than that, the paternity cases.

At least with her meeting this morning being so early, she had a chance to catch her breath, maybe even catch up on a couple of hours sleep whilst T.J. was in school. Veronica sat down heavily in the arm chair, dumping her bag down the side and tipping her head back against the cushions.

She needed sleep, she really did, although she knew she was unlikely to get any during the day and with her head so busy still. Flipping on the TV, Veronica figured a little mindless daytime viewing would help her get some much needed rest. For a while she was right and within a half hour was almost entirely asleep right there in the chair, as some entertainment channel rattled on in the background.

Unfortunately, Veronica was soon startled awake by the telephone ringing and groaned as if pained when she felt forced to reach out and answer it.

“Veronica Mars,” she said as she took the call, rubbing her tired eyes.

“Hello, sweetheart,” her father greeted her. “Are you okay?” he asked, less than convinced by her tone that seemed lethargic at best.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she promised him, smiling at his ever-present concern. “Honestly, I’m just a little tired is all.”

Keith understood that, though said not a word. Though he was supposed to retire when Veronica took over the business, he couldn’t quite managed it, and often helped out when she got busy with cases. There was no more running after bail jumpers and such since his injury, but the paperwork and research side of things came easy enough. He was still sharp as a tack, and there was still no case he and his daughter could not solve given enough time and resource. This latest paternity case was almost definitely what had Veronica so tired, so lacking in rest. They always got to her, and he knew why. They hardly ever spoke about it, not since all the arguments in the beginning. Some things were just better left unsaid.

“Well then, now probably isn’t the best time for me to ask you about plans for Teresa’s sixteenth birthday,” he noted. “Don’t worry, honey, it’ll wait for another day. We have almost two weeks yet...”

Veronica was listening to her father, of course she was. He had a point anyway, about T.J.’s birthday. They really did need to make plans already, time was fast running out. Though it was another task on a very long list for Veronica to deal with, she also knew it ought to be right there at the top, given that it was her baby girl’s big day.

The real problem wasn’t that she was worrying about T’J.’s birthday right now, but about something even more important. Veronica’s eyes had fixed on the T.V. the moment she heard Logan’s name spoken. She was glued to the screen as she always was whenever he was mentioned, fear clutching her heart for more than one reason. She waited in silence and panic to hear the latest headline about Neptune’s most famous export, and almost dropped the phone as she heard the female co-anchor make her announcement.

“Rumour has it that Logan Echolls is heading back to his roots. The movie star that began his acting career at age twenty, and has since gone on to star in a string of Oscar winning pictures, it moving back to Neptune, California, where he lived for most of his formative years...”

Veronica couldn’t breathe, she simply forgot how as she watched the archive footage of her ex on the red carpet at one of his many premieres. She no longer heard the words being spoken over those pictures, her brain simply repeated over and over ‘Logan is coming home’.

It was more than sixteen years since he left town and from that day to this Veronica had not so much as spoken to the guy, never mind come face to face with him. As far as she was aware, he knew nothing of T.J. or her marriage and subsequent divorce with Leo. Conversely, she knew almost everything about his fame-filled life, via T.V. specials and newspaper articles. Now he was coming back here, and yet all she could think of in this moment was the night he left.

.

Veronica woke with the sun in her eyes and a moment of panic in her mind as she realised she was not where she was supposed to be. When her brain finally caught up to reality, she put both hands over her face, unsure whether she was about to scream or cry and finding both reactions seemingly suitable in the moment.

She was an idiot, a complete fool in her behaviour last night. Veronica knew she had not been fair to anyone, least of all Logan, but as she sat up fast and looked down at the man beside her, she realised he had the last laugh on her. He told her she would always love him, and she proved it last nightby allowing herself to fall into his arms and into his bed.

Barely a week after she realised her and Piz was never going to work out and let him down as gently as she could, Logan had announced he was leaving town, and had no plans to come back. She was so confused, so emotionally wrecked, that by the time it came to the night before Logan’s going, she had stormed into his suite of rooms at the Neptune Grand, to have things out with him once and for all.

The anger and sadness turned to passion that could not be denied or pushed easily aside. They made love for hours, though those words were never spoken, and fell asleep before the dawn.

Now Veronica had a choice to make for the both of them. To stay here, to ask Logan to stay, to start all over again in a relationship that was more than likely doomed to fail, she couldn’t do it. She was up and dressed and bolting from the room before Logan ever woke to notice.

It would be the last time she saw him, quite possibly forever.

.

“Veronica? Veronica?” Keith’s voice grew louder and more panicked in her ear until finally his daughter reacted.

“I’m here, Dad. I’m sorry,” she apologised immediately. “I just... the T.V. got my attention. They mentioned Logan.”

Her father wasn’t sure what to say to that. He knew that deep down Veronica had never entirely gotten over her ex. He was perhaps the love of her life and yet she was the one that had given up on the relationship in the end. It was all part of the topic they steered clear of talking about as a general rule. Her keeping the truth of her pregnancy from Logan, never sat well with Keith and probably never would, especially since Teresa was kept in the dark too.

“Another new movie?” he asked his daughter for the news. “Or is it something more serious?”

There was a long pause before Veronica finally found her voice to answer him.

“He’s coming home,” she said, with a shake in her tone neither of them had been ready for. “Oh, Dad, what am I gonna do?” she asked desperately then, trying to swallow down the emotion that rose in her throat, blinking back tears she didn’t want to have to shed. “I know Logan wasn’t exactly the best at math, but even he’s going to figure out there’s at least a chance he’s T.J.’s father.”

“Oh boy.” Her father sighed. “Well, I guess we knew this day might come. Whatever decision you make, sweetheart, I think you should make it with Leo,” he told her. “As much as I’d like to give advice, he’s the man that helped raise your daughter as his own. He has way more rights here than I do.”

Veronica knew he was right, no question. If the truth came out, she would suffer herself, but not half so much as those closest to her. This would break T.J.’s heart, she was certain, but it would be just as bad for Leo, and there was no way he deserved that. The break up of their marriage had been bad enough, and she did so hate that she could never love him enough, but these things couldn’t be forced. If she could make Leo the father of her baby girl, she still would, and that was the truth, but it was impossible. T.J.’s father was Logan Echolls, and it seemed that truth was destined to out before long, whether Veronica liked it or not.


	3. Chapter 3

“Yeah, well, you can tell Mr Northwood that whilst we appreciate his generosity, this is not gonna change the number of patrol cars passing through his part of town,” said Leo with his usual winning smile, even though he was on the phone.

Of course, Veronica could see him from where she was hovering by his office. Just as soon as he was done with his call, she tapped on the door that had been left ajar and let herself in.

“Hey,” her ex-husband greeted her. “You okay?” he checked a second later, already sure that she wasn’t.

When you knew someone as well as Leo knew Veronica, when you’d been married for twelve years and raised a child together, you just noticed these things. It was also strange for her to show up at his work this way, unless something was wrong. Given that it was highly unlikely that T.J. was in trouble at the school, Leo wasn’t sure what to think.

“I’m... not so much okay,” admitted Veronica as she closed the door tight shut and then the blinds for good measure. “I’m guessing you haven’t heard much in the way of news or gossip this morning?” she asked, sure she was right before the question ever left her lips.

“Honestly? I’ve been swamped since before I stepped through the door,” he admitted, gesturing with arms wide to the piles of paper on his desk just for starters.

“I’d like to say I’ll keep this brief but it’s kind of a big deal,” his ex-wife told him with a shake in her voice that he knew meant something bad.

Veronica’s hands were shaking, though she tried to hide it by playing with the strap of her purse where it lay in her lap. This could not be good news, and Leo was hardly breathing as he waited to hear it.

“There was a story on the entertainment channel this morning,” she said, looking away at first but soon forcing herself to meet Leo’s eyes. “The truth is, Logan is coming back to Neptune,” she said at last, and watched the colour drain from the Sheriff’s face.

This was one time when even Leo couldn’t find any kind of smile. Veronica knew the words she had spoken would cut him to the core. This was their worst nightmare, both of them had said as much so many times, and kept quiet about it a lot more often. Everything worked whilst Logan stayed away. T.J. saw Leo as her dad, he and Veronica carried on as good friends and happy exes. It was all fine. The moment Logan Echolls came back to town, all three of their lives fell down round their ears, and that was before Veronica even considered her own father, and her two closest friends that knew the truth.

“Okay,” said Leo after a pause that went on too long. “Um, I don’t really know what we’re gonna do here, unless-”

“No.” Veronica shook her head definitely. “Don’t look at me for an answer, because I have nothing,” she admitted, the wobble in her voice getting worse all the time as she fought the urge to bawl like a baby.

Now was not the time to fall apart, no matter how much she wished she could. It’d be easy to cry and sob, and say it wasn’t fair, but the fact of the matter was that would just be Veronica feeling sorry for herself. She brought this on her own head, and she knew it too. Of course, she could have been with Leo without lying, or with any other man she might have met and fallen for instead, but no, she chose to lie about T.J.’s real father, to the girl herself, to everyone else, except for three specific people. Now she knew the truth was within easy distance of smacking her in the face, and ruining everything. The house of cards was about to fall and for once in her life, Veronica Mars could not save the day and make it all turn out okay in the end, it just wasn’t possible.

“I hate that this is all my fault!” she said crossly, practically growling at herself in frustration. “I did this to us, to all three of us, and... and I knew how badly it could end.” She laughed hollowly as the tears she had been fighting finally trickled down her cheeks. “I knew, Leo, because I’ve seen it a hundred times. It even happened to me. How stupid am I?” she cried.

Leo rounded the desk to get to her, pulling her out of the chair to hug her close as she sobbed into his shirt. He wished he could say something to make her feel better, but there was really nothing he could find that would help. There was no denying that he and Veronica had both been fools to think they could keep up this charade forever. Keith had warned them, and he wasn’t the only one. Wallace and Mac had been sceptical at best, but Veronica and Leo had convinced them all that this was the best way forward. Now it seemed so ridiculous, so naive of them to think they could go on forever and never get caught out.

“Sometimes I really wish I just stayed dating you all those years ago.” Veronica sniffed as she looked up at him trough red-rimmed eyes. “Then we would’ve stayed married and T.J. really would be yours.”

“Yeah,” he considered, still holding her close, pushing her hair back from her face as he gazed down at her then. “But you and I both know that life wouldn’t’ve been perfect even then,” he told her. “Nobody’s life is a fairytale, Veronica.”

“Nobody could’ve tried harder to make mine that way than you, Leo.” She smiled up at him through a veil of tears.

Right now, Veronica wasn’t sure what hurt more, knowing her life could have been so much easier if she just chose the right man, or remembering how things had been before and the resulting catastrophe that was due at any time...

.

“You okay?” asked Leo as he watched Veronica sink down into the armchair with her face in her hands.

They just got back from the doctors office, and for the first time, they had seen this baby that was growing inside of her. It was a big day, a very big moment, and Leo understood why she might be feeling emotional. He’d be more worried if she wasn’t.

“Yeah,” said Veronica, as she looked over at him with a smile creeping onto her face. “I’m actually okay, and that’s... that’s because of you, Leo,” she told him reaching out her hand as he walked over and took a hold of it. “You are being so amazing about all this, and I really, really don’t deserve it,” she shook her head.

“It’s fine, Veronica,” he promised her, sitting down beside her and kissing the hand he held. “I wanna be here. I wanna do this.”

“You want to take on another man’s baby?” she checked, finding out all very hard to believe even now. “The world thinks this child is yours,” she reminded him, her hand on her slightly expanded belly.

“I know that, and it’s fine,” he told her sincerely. “It’s better than fine, it’s... Veronica, I want this. I want you and, and I’m pretty sure I’m always going to,” he admitted.

“Leo-” she tried to interrupt but this time he wasn’t going to let her.

“Please, Veronica, just let me say this,” he urged her, holding her hand in both of his as he shifted to face her. “I know this isn’t how you planned your life. Not the baby, not Logan leaving, not lying to your dad and everyone,” he recapped, almost wishing he hadn’t when she looked fit to cry all over him again, “but I meant what I said two months ago, about being here for you, about making everything be okay.”

“I know.” She nodded, swallowing down emotion as she met his eyes.

“Yeah, well, what you probably don’t know is that I wish this baby was mine.” He smiled genuinely. “I wish you and me were still together for real, and... and I want that, Veronica, I honestly do,” he told her, putting a hand to her face when she tried to look away. “I love you, Veronica, you know I do, and if you’ll let me I wanna be here with you and this kid, forever.”

When he started to laugh at his own words, she was almost worried. Anybody else and she might have accused them of a sick joke, but not Leo, never Leo. He was as straight and honest as any guy she ever met, but what he was offering here, it couldn’t be for real. No guy was this good.

“I just realised how corny all that sounded,” he said, ducking his head.

“It wasn’t corny,” Veronica told him, before laughing just a little herself. “Okay, so it was, but in the best way. Leo, seriously.” She smiled as he looked at her again, “I would love to say it was that easy...”

“It could be; it is,” he insisted. “And before you say it, I already know that you don’t love me the way I love you, but hey, that’s okay.” He shrugged as if it weren’t a deal-breaker. “Maybe you’ll learn, maybe you won’t, but would it be so crazy to try?” he asked her earnestly.

Veronica opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. He was serious, he really was. Leo D’Amato, a truly decent and nice guy who she did love in some ways, was sat here offering her love and a life, security and support. It was crazy, she was carrying another man’s child, and she didn’t really feel that way about him anymore, if she ever truly had. In spite of all this he was willing, more than willing, he genuinely wanted her to be with him. Marriage, kids, together forever. It was wrong to say yes, and she knew it, or maybe it would only be wrong if he didn’t know the score. The fact was, he knew how she felt and how she didn’t feel. He was still here. Maybe she wouldn’t be such a bitch if she did this. Maybe...

.

“We’re gonna have to figure out how to explain all this to T.J.” Leo sighed as he held Veronica tight in his arms still. “I mean, Logan’s not dumb, he’ll do the math. He’s gonna know there’s a least at chance that... He’s gonna figure it out,” he said instead, finding it just too painful to say those other words.

“I know.” His ex-wife sniffed as she made herself find that backbone that was in there somewhere and look up at Leo’s worried expression. “I know we have to be the strong ones here.” She nodded. “But I honestly hate this,” she admitted.

Leo could hardly say he felt any better about it, but there’s was no other choice. They made their beds and now they must lie in them, come what may, however messy things got from here on out.

* * *

It was a strange feeling for Logan to be heading home. For the longest time, he never really thought he had a home, bouncing between flashy houses from LA to Hawaii to Paris and back around. He was rich and pretty enough to go anywhere he wanted, do anything he wanted, and that was just exactly what he did. He tried not to think about Neptune too much, though it almost always proved impossible, without the assistance of alcohol anyway.

Neptune meant Veronica Mars, and she was one part of town that Logan could never forget. He wanted to, for a long while. He knew life would be easier if he could let the memory of his ex fade away, but it never completely happened. Years ago, Logan lost count of the number of times he picked up the phone to call her, and then just recently when he started making plans to return to his so-called home town. He never actually dialled the number, he wasn’t even sure she would still be there. Everybody had grown up a lot since those High School and college days, probably moved on to decent jobs, marriages and kids maybe, happy little homes with white picket fences and roses round the door. That wasn’t Logan Echolls, and somehow he couldn’t quite picture Veronica living like that either.

Their relationship was supposed to be epic, that was what he told her, and despite saying later he barely remembered those words, they were burned into his mind as much as he knew they had to be in hers. So much for spanning years and continents. Logan found his fame and Veronica probably found a guy that didn’t have a psychotic streak, that could love her like she deserved and handle her crazy ass need to put herself in the line of fire every other day on the calendar.

“We’ll be landing within the hour, Mr Echolls,” one of his bodyguards told him then as he retook his seat opposite the actor.

“Thank you, Stubbs.” He nodded once before gazing out the window again.

From the private jet to his rebuilt, refurbished home, that had been months in the making. The superstar lifestyle was not to be sneezed at, and yet Logan’s mind was everywhere but the present and bright future in this moment. The past was the only place his brain wanted to be since he made the tough decision to return to Neptune, California. He thought of Veronica more often than not, wondering what it might be like to see her again, how she might’ve changed, how they might face each other, after the way they had parted...

.

Logan woke with the sun in his eyes and a moment of fear in his mind as he realised last night might have been another torturous dream. Turning his head to the pillow beside him and finding it empty seemed to confirm that theory, but the smell of her perfume brought back the memories too fully and clearly to have been all inside his mind.

The problem was, now Veronica was gone and Logan was unsure whether he was about to scream or cry, finding both reactions seemingly suitable in the moment.

He was an idiot, a complete fool in his behaviour last night. Logan knew he had not been fair to anyone, least of all Veronica, but as he sat up fast and looked down at the empty space beside him, he realised she had the last laugh on him. Yes, he told her she would always love him, and she proved it last night by allowing herself to fall into his arms and into his bed, but then she just as easily walked out on him before he woke up.

Barely a week after she realised her and Piz was never going to work out and let him down as gently as she could, Logan had announced he was leaving town, and had no plans to come back. He knew it would confuse her, maybe hurt her, though he denied that was what he was trying to do. Honestly, Logan wasn’t sure himself, he was just so emotionally wrecked by this whole situation. By the time it came to the night before he left, and Veronica had stormed into his suite of rooms at the Neptune Grand to have things out with him once and for all, he didn’t know whether he hoped she would beg him to stay or tell him to get lost.

The anger and sadness between them turned to passion that could not be denied or pushed easily aside. They made love for hours, though those words were never spoken, and fell asleep before the dawn.

Now Veronica was gone. She had made the choice for both of them on how this epic tale of theirs played out. Sure, Logan could go after her, but if she had bolted before he woke, she clearly had no want or need to talk to him. Let this be their last hurrah, maybe, let it be their parting gift to each other, one more night before they walked away forever. In his mind she would always exist as the girl who made him happiest and hurt him most over the years. Last night could live forever in his mind as the best and worst Logan had ever known, and it would be the last time he saw Veronica Mars, quite possibly forever.

.

“Mr Echolls?” his assistant tapped him on the shoulder and broke him out of a trance. “The pilot has asked that you fasten your seat-belt. We’ll be landing in a few minutes.” She smiled amiably.

“Thank you, Amy.” He smiled back, though the expression never made it to his eyes as he did as she advised.

Here they were, moments from Neptune, and though he had more cash and a few more staff than when he left, much was just the same for Logan. He never married or had kids, the thought really never crossed his mind unless he was dreaming of a petite blonde he used to know, and would always love somehow. By now he was sure she had a doting husband, maybe even a bunch of loving sons and daughters, all snarky and cute as she could be. Seeing her like that, it might just kill him, but then Logan was pretty sure his heart was all but dead the day he walked out of Neptune. Coming back couldn’t make it any worse, he was sure.


	4. Chapter 4

Veronica wasn’t sure why she bothered coming back to the office this afternoon. She had plenty of work to do, that was the sensible reason why, but she knew before she ever got here that she wouldn’t be able to properly concentrate on anything she tried to get done. Her head was full of the men in her life to start off with; Logan Echolls who had always meant so much to her, and Leo D’Amato who ought to have meant more, truth be told. One she thought she might marry one day, the other she actually had, both connected to her daughter by way of parentage in their own ways, though only one knew the truth.

It made Veronica’s head swim and a ball of nausea grow ever larger in her stomach when she thought about how she was going to break all this to T.J. Her baby girl did not deserve all this, she ought to be a happy carefree teenager, without a worry in the world. Veronica had done so much to try and protect her, and yet it still wasn’t enough. Her world was going to come tumbling down around her ears when she was told that her father was not her father at all, that Leo and Veronica’s relationship was two parts masquerade, one part effort, that the real daddy in this situation was moviestar, playboy and ex-Neptune resident, Logan Echolls.

Thinking about facing Logan again after so long, even with the secrets she held now, was less scary to Veronica than facing her own daughter. She brought Teresa up well enough, she and Leo made the ultimate parenting team in some ways, knowing the world the way they did. They were firm but fair in all things, and little Teresa Jane grow up knowing right from wrong, respecting the law, but being savvy enough to know you didn’t just take crap from people because they seemed to have authority, money, or power. She was more like Logan than Veronica cared to think about sometimes, when she got that smirk on her face or a mischievous look in her eye that meant trouble. Veronica knew Leo saw it too, not so much realising that those expressions came from Logan, but knowing damn well they didn’t come from Veronica and were not his own either. It hurt him but he had chosen that pain at least. Neither T.J. nor Logan chose the situation they were in, and Veronica felt like such a bitch for making this whole nightmare her  
self.

“Er, knock, knock?” said a voice then, and Veronica was so startled she almost bounced right out of her seat.

How someone had gotten from the door, across through Reception, and into the office that was once her father’s and now her own, was astounding. She had not heard a sound, and yet here was this guy stood right in front of her desk. She looked up with an apology on her lips for zoning out and being so rude, but then a smile overtook everything when she realised who was there.

“Weevil!” she gasped with genuine delight as she leapt up from her seat, rushing at him. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here!” she enthused as she threw herself into his arms that were already open wide.

It had been too long since she had seen her ex-biker friend, the guy who looked like he ought to be at odds with the law rather than in cahoots with the local P.I. Eli Navarro was just another man in Veronica’s life that didn’t know how to do anything but love her, albeit theirs had always been a platonic relationship, without the complication of either of them feeling more.

“C’mon, V,” he said as they looked at each other then. “As much as we all wanna get outta Neptune, somethin’ pulls us back eventually, y’know?” he shrugged. “Hey, you ever think maybe it’s you that’s the magnet?” he teased her.

He couldn’t know what that made her feel. He probably hadn’t even heard about Logan coming home, and if he had, he wouldn’t know why that mattered so very much to Veronica. Even their history seemed to mean little to any of her friends now, since she had been married to Leo and raised what they presumed to be his child. Everyone would guess Veronica to be immune to Logan Echolls these days perhaps, and they were so wrong, but right now she had other things to talk about.

“I thought you wouldn’t even be out for another month?” she checked then with a frown, the change of subject deliberate but also borne of genuine curiosity.

“I played like a good boy.” Her friend smirked. “You know I can if I want to, and I got out early on good behaviour,” he explained as Veronica encouraged him to take the seat and she perched on the desk with a smile.

“I’m so glad, Weevil, seriously,” she told him genuinely. “When you called me and said they found you guilty-”

“That weren’t ever gonna find me anything else, V,” he interrupted her, “but it’s cool. I did the crime, I did the time, and it all ends right here,” he said definitely, pointing a finger into her desk to emphasis his words. “From here on out, it’s straight and narrow, on the up and up, no sliding back down again, not this time,” he swore.

“That’s good to know.” Veronica nodded along with him. “But can you do it?”

“I don’t got a choice.” He shook his head, reaching into his back pocket and producing a rumpled photograph to show her. “That’s my woman and her kid,” he explained. “I mess up again, at all, she walks.”

Veronica smiled at the nice looking people in the picture. A ready-made family for the constant bachelor that was her buddy Weevil. She knew from the way he talked that he meant what he said about going straight for them. Doing it for himself never quite worked, the gang that were family always pulled him back down eventually. This last time had been a revenge attack on some guys that screwed over his cousin in the next county. Leo might’ve made sure the law went easy on him in Balboa, but there were no strings to pull with the other Sheriff. Weevil got twelve months and it seemed had ended up serving no more than eleven. When he went in, Veronica was pretty sure he he was single, and yet here was a girlfriend and a teenage boy...

“Where did you two meet?” she asked, forever curious as she handed the photo back to her friend.

“In a cafe, like a week before I screwed up and landed back in jail.” He smiled at the memory as he explained. “I’m not exactly the sentimental romantic type but Lena and me, it was pretty much... I dunno, like love at first sight?”

“Wow,” said Veronica with a look that she was trying to hide.

“Yeah, you can laugh, ‘cause I know how dumb that sounds comin outta me,” Weevil assured her with a smirk of his own, “but we just connected or whatever, talked about everything, and... y’know, she’s been through it all, V, and kept on going. I know a lot of women dealt with a whole lot, like my grandma and my sister, and hell, even you, but Lena surprised even me, especially when I went to jail. Y’know she came every week to visit? Wrote me letters in between times, I didn’t even think about her wanting to wait for me or nothin’.”

Veronica couldn’t help smiling at the odd kind of fairytale she was being told. True love conquered all somehow, even for Weevil, even when he’d only known the woman in question a short time in comparison to many other relationships. If things could work out for him, she was so glad. It was just a shame that her own love life hadn’t run so smooth, she thought bitterly.

“Anyway, Lena has folks here in Neptune. It’s like a complete fluke that we never met before now,” Weevil explained. “I needed to get outta town once I was done with jail, get away from temptation. I figured here’s a good place. I got people here to... to help keep me in line,” he said, looking up at Veronica then.

She knew what he meant, and it wasn’t that he was glad to have a friend with a ton of pull in the Sheriff’s department. Weevil needed good influences, he needed decent people to remind him to behave. Veronica hardly felt like the best person for the job, but Weevil didn’t need to hear about her twisted mess of a life right now. He was one of those poor naive friends she had kept in the dark over T.J.’s true parentage. It was years now since they’d seen each other, though they kept in touch as best they could. Weevil wasn’t into the whole dawn of the Internet age, so email was out, and there just wasn’t time and money to call each other all the time. Weevil knew about the divorce, major events like that, but that was all.

“So, you and Lena and her son,” said Veronica, shaking her head free of too much of the past. “You’re staying in Neptune? For good now?”

“Looks like.” Weevil shrugged. “Comin’ home seemed like the thing to do. ‘Course maybe I wouldn’t’ve bothered if I knew I weren’t the only one,” he said with a knowing look.

Veronica was less saved by the bell than saved by the voice, as her daughter called from the Reception area outside her office.

“Mom?” she tried, knocking on the door that had been left ajar.

“It’s fine, T.J. Come in,” she told her, quite proud of the fact she had at least taught her daughter about privacy and client confidentiality at this point - she did just like to bust in regardless at one time.

“Mom, can I...?” she stopped short of asking her question as she walked in and saw the guy sat in the seat by the desk. “Oh, hi,” she said with a look.

Somehow the Latino dude looked vaguely familiar, and yet she could not think why he should.

“T.J., this is an old friend of mine, Mr Navarro,” Veronica introduced, much to Weevil’s amusement since he never was spoken of so formally unless he was in trouble. “Weevil, this is Teresa Jane, the teen years.” She smiled then, sure T.J. had changed enough since he last saw her that he would barely recognise the girl.

“Woah, seriously?!”

Both adults were somewhat taken aback by the shocked response of the teen girl before them as her mouth opened wide and her school bag dropped to the floor with a thud.

“You’re Weevil Navarro?” she checked. “The guy that put the teacher’s car on the flagpole?” she asked, her shocked expression giving way to a grin she couldn’t help.

“You kids still talk about that?” The ex-biker smiled, looking far too proud of himself for Veronica’s liking, still, she couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched the conversation unfold.

“Dude, you’re a legend!” T.J. told him, and though Weevil didn’t much care for the term dude being applied to himself, he was kind of proud his antics had got him a place in Neptune High history. “But, seriously, how’d you do it?” asked T.J. then as she pulled up the other chair.

“Why do you need to know that, Teresa?” her mother cut in, trying to be stern, even as Weevil smirked at the attitude stand off between the pair.

T.J. picked her answer carefully, the cogs evidentially turning over in her brain before she ever spoke.

“No reason." She shrugged at last. “I was just curious, geez,” she overdid the dramatic sigh and hands raised in mock surrender.

Weevil saw her mother in every fibre of her in that moment, though he never said a word.

“Okay, letting that slide on by,” said Veronica then. “Did you need something, T.J.?” she checked, already dreading what her daughter might say next.

She didn’t know about Logan, she couldn’t possibly, and yet every second until the truth was told now, Veronica knew she would be panicking on the inside over what came next.

“I got a ride into town with Sam,” her daughter explained. “She wants to go shopping for clothes. It’s this whole thing with a guy that I don’t even get,” she rolled her eyes dramatically, as Weevil watched mother and daughter with amusement. “I just swung by to say I might not be home when you get there, if that’s cool?”

“It’s fine.” Veronica smiled, hardly aware she had been holding her breath until she let it all out at once. “But be home by six, please. Your dad is coming by for dinner, and we need to have a talk.”

T.J. frowned at that. Usually she got fair warning when her father was coming over, it was usually planned and something to be glad about. This didn’t seem so good. It couldn’t be the birds and bees talk, they covered that already, and T.J. knew she hadn’t done anything she could be in serious trouble for, not lately anyway. Her grades were good, she hadn’t got into any fights or anything, and there was nothing in her room to cause alarm like drugs or birth control pills that so many other girls she knew had gotten into trouble for.

“Okay.” She nodded at length, turning to leave. “I’ll see you later. It was cool meeting you, Weevil.” She smiled at the ex-biker as she made for the door, not caring at all it seemed when Veronica called behind her that it was ‘Mr Navarro’ to her.

“Let her be, chica,” Weevil advised. “She called me that I’d just feel like an old man anyway, and there’s days enough I feel that way lately without a reminder that I’m aged enough to be mini-Mars father.”

Veronica opened her mouth to answer that comment but soon shut it again fast. The topic of T.J.’s parentage was never fun for her, but more uncomfortable now than it had ever been. Weevil had always been flirty with her and she didn’t mind at all. He meant no real harm, and they had never flinched from each others fake advances before. Right now was just a really bad time for such a joke.

“So, how is the old man these days?” he asked when she turned away. “Still Sheriff, so I heard.”

“Yeah, Leo’s doing really good.” She forced a smile as she rounded the desk and re-took her seat behind it. “I mean, you know he and I didn’t work out, but we’re good friends, like always.” She smiled more genuinely then, because what she said was honest and true. “Just because we’re not in love doesn’t mean we can’t be good parents, and like I said, always good friends.”

Weevil’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her then, just for a second but Veronica was sharp enough to notice. She might have called him on such a look if she had the chance to. Instead, she let it go as he changed the subject fast.

“That’s cool, V. Never have too many friends in this town anyhow,” he said knowingly. “Your gang still around to have your back?” he checked. “Er, Wallace and Mac and all?”

“Yeah, Mac is still in town,” she nodded along. “Her job takes her all over at different times but never for long. She’s still kind of a homebody so she’s around a lot,” she explained. “I know I told you Wallace got married, well, then Melissa got pregnant and his job promoted him so he’s all the way over in Chicago,” she said with a brave smile as she turned a picture around on the desk to show him - Wallace, his wife Melissa, and their young son. “I am so proud of him, but honestly? I miss him a lot sometimes,” she admitted, showing just the slightest hint of weakness.

Weevil knew he was the privileged one to see her falter. She wouldn’t allow her barriers down even for a second in front of most people, even if he could see through them sometimes anyway. Veronica made like she was okay alone, but she needed her friends. He was as glad to be back here for her as for himself right now.

The phone ringing on the desk stopped him telling her that, not that he probably would have anyway, but whatever. The poor woman looked conflicted between whether to answer the call of a potential client in front of him or not, and Weevil immediately stood up.

“You should get that,” he told her. “I should be gettin’ outta your hair anyhow,” he said, moving towards the door.

“I really, really wanna catch up properly,” she insisted, even as she reached for the phone.

A few calls and the occasional letter through the years wasn’t enough, not when Weevil was back in town. Veronica had a feeling she was going to need her friends now more then ever when the proverbial brown stuff hit the fan later on. Her biker friend might judge her when the truth came out, but he’d come around in the end, he always did. The things they had forgiven each other over the years, it was almost crazy to think about it.

“Mars Investigations,” she said as she answered the phone then, smiling as Weevil scribbled on the nearest post-it and tossed it her way before he left.

She waved a cheerful goodbye even as she sympathised with a sobbing woman whose husband was probably cheating on her. Before her lay her good friend’s number, and the words ‘Any time’ underneath. Right now that meant more to Veronica than she would ever be able to explain.


	5. Chapter 5

Neptune, California. It was the better part of seventeen years since Logan last saw the place and as much as it had been his own idea to come back here, he often wondered why he made that choice. From the day he announced his plans to this first day sat in his newly rebuilt and refurbished home, a little voice in the back of his head just wouldn’t stop asking him if he’d really made the right decision here.

It was quiet for a change, almost too quiet. So many big cities, swanky parties, and all.

Logan had gotten use to the hustle and bustle, and coming back here was shockingly peaceful. It was hardly a word he would have used for Neptune back in the day, when each week held a new mystery or painful twist, by way of murder, intrigue, kidnapping, or adultery. This house, or rather the predecessor of it, had seen so much pain and tragedy. Its previous owners, Logan’s parents, were both dead. His step-sister Trina was gone and mostly forgotten as a Z-list star. Just Logan remained, with no staff from Neptune itself yet employed to keep house, and all other staff filed away to other rooms, leaving him be with one too many memories.

A little digging told Logan who was still around. There weren’t many left he knew, and fewer he cared to call on. Dick Casablancas had a house in Neptune again, as well as several others around the world. Technically he was a CEO, but mostly he partied whilst others ran his empire. He was just about the only person Logan planned to reconnect with now he was home, except for perhaps one other.

Veronica Mars. In a lot of ways she was the love of Logan’s life, and yet it had been almost half his life ago that he last saw her. Staying away seemed like a solid plan. He heard tell she was married now, probably had a couple of kids and everything was rosy with her. Coming back into her life, well, if she didn’t see it as trouble, that would be a miracle. Logan was pretty sure he saw himself as trouble, especially when it came to his ex. He never went for the marriage and kids thing himself. The playboy lifestyle suited him, or so he told the world. Lavish parties and a girl in every town, a guy ought to be happy when he was so rich, privileged, and adored. There were times when Logan reflected though, times when he was left alone to think and he wondered if he had it all wrong. Leaving Neptune had felt like running away but in a good way. He wanted out before he did any more damage to those he cared about, before they could do too much more damage to him. Later, he wondered if that running he’d done really had been for anyone’s true benefit, or if he was just hoping somebody would give chase to prove how much they cared. Veronica never followed him, and as time went on Logan didn’t just stop wanting her to, he stopped believing she should.

So much water had gone under the bridge that was their relationship. They had both grown up a lot, at least Logan figured Veronica would have, and he hoped rather than  
believed the same could be said of him. Maybe calling her wouldn’t be the worst idea he ever had. Hell, maybe heading over to her place to see her would be okay. They  
were older now, decent enough to be able to have a civil conversation like the adults they were meant to be.

Getting up off the couch, Logan had made his decision. He would find Veronica’s current address through the wonders of technology and then he would head on over there. What harm could it do to see her again? Perhaps experience should have taught Logan to know the answer to that question, but sadly not. If he had really thought it through at all, surely he would have stayed away.

* * *

Something was going on. T.J. D’Amato wasn’t sure what that something was yet, but she knew it existed. She was as sharp and savvy as Veronica and Leo combined, and there was no way anything was getting by her, at least that’s what T.J. thought. She was imagining all kinds of things as she sat at the dinner table, shovelling pasta into her mouth, eyeing one parent and then the other with suspicion. It didn’t seem plausible they were getting back together. There was no way either of them wanted to move out of Neptune right now. She doubted either had a new partner in their life, since both pretty much lived for their work and her alone.

“Okay, you guys are freaking me out,” she said eventually. “Mom, you said you got Dad over here ‘cause you two need to talk to me, but beyond the pleasantries, nobody has said two words,” T.J. noted with a pointed look.

It was true, both Veronica and Leo knew it too. They really hadn’t done much but ask each other about their day at work or school, and make compliments about the food in front of them. They were all here for a reason, and it was getting to the point where that reason just couldn’t be avoided anymore.

“Well, your Mom and me...” Leo began, until Veronica’s hand landed on his arm and silenced him.

“No, it’s okay,” she nodded, putting on a brave smile that he knew was as fake as anything ever had been. “I should be the one to actually say it. It’s my fault,” she said, with tears beginning to show in her eyes.

Of all things T.J. knew for sure, it was that if her Mom cried, things were really bad. It just never happened, not on any normal given day. Something truly awful and heart-breaking had to happen for Veronica Mars to break down, and T.J.’s fork clanged loudly on the plate as a terrible thought occurred to her.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “Did someone die?” she checked.

How that could be her mother’s fault hadn’t really occurred to her, though in her line of work she did end up involved in such situations. Still, there would be no big deal talk like this if none of them were really a part of the tragedy.

“No, sweetheart, nobody died, and nobody’s going to,” Veronica promised, putting her hand over her daughter’s own on the table. “I’m sorry if we made you think it was  
something that bad,” she swore.

“Okay,” T.J. nodded shakily, relieved to hear that but still kind of freaked out about what she was about to hear next. “So, what’s going on?” she asked again.

Her eyes flicked to Leo but he only looked to Veronica. He would do this for her if she wanted him to, but he knew better. His ex-wife, the love of his life, she wanted to admit to what they had done, and he would let her. After all, the entire point was that T.J. was Veronica’s daughter, and sadly not Leo’s own.

“Teresa, you know, before I married Leo, there was another guy in my life,” Veronica began, knowing that after the last few hours of thinking about nothing else she ought to have this speech perfected and yet sadly not. “We, er... and I’m not proud of this, but after we broke up, we slept together again, the night before he left town,” she explained, feeling sick the entire time, knowing even now T.J. probably hadn’t figured out what was coming.

There was no way anyone could expect a teenage girl to just naturally assume her father may not in fact be her father at all. Sure, some asked in spite if they were  
adopted, but this was real and serious, and T.J was clueless until Veronica said the words she was so dreading having to speak. Still, with a shake in her voice that she could not hide, she continued.

“I... I got pregnant,” she said, thankful for and feeling so undeserving of the hand Leo gripped her arm with, giving her the support she needed as he always had from the start. “Sweetheart, Leo isn’t your father,” she said at last, a rush of relief at the moment being over quickly replaced by a combination of pain and panic as she waited for T.J.’s reaction.

There was a silence that stretched out for what felt like days. Teresa didn’t move but for her eyes flitting back and forth between the two adults sat before her. They had always been Mom and Dad, she never for a moment questioned her parentage on either side. Now she was hearing that her mother was perhaps a cheat and her father  
was not her father at all. The ticking of the clock on the mantle was all anyone heard, except for T.J. who was almost certain she could hear her own heart breaking at this awful news.

“Please, T.J.” said Veronica desperately, reaching for her daughters hand. “Please say something...”

“No!” she tore her hand away before her mother ever made contact, leaping up from her seat so fast the chair tipped over backwards. “No! You can’t do this to me!” she  
cried, bolting from the room before anyone could blink.

“Teresa!” Veronica called after her, planning to give chase, but Leo stopped her, standing deliberately in her way and holding her tight by the upper arms.

“Let me go,” he urged her. “Please, Veronica, let me.”

“It’s my fault, Leo!” his ex-wife told him desperately, tears streaming down her face and complete anguish in her tone. “I have to tell her I’m sorry, I can’t bear this!” she cried.

“I know, but if you go up there, she’s not gonna calm down,” he pointed out. “You both need to do that. Please, Veronica, let me help,” he urged her.

“Okay,” she relented after a moment, and sunk back into her chair, feeling so defeated right now, “but please, Leo, tell her I’m sorry.”

He nodded that he would, stopping a moment to check she was going to be okay alone a while, before hurrying to the stairs and up to his daughter’s room. It was strange that he was still thinking of T.J. as his child, even in this moment as he ran to her, knowing she was sobbing her heart out over the fact she was borne of another man.

Leo tapped on the door that had been left ajar and poked his head in to look. T.J. was flung out on her bed, crying hard, just as he suspected. It broke his heart to see her so upset, and as much as Veronica might blame herself, it was his fault too, perhaps more so. He had been so convincing in the beginning, telling the girl he loved he could be a father to her child, never thinking about these consequences that were long overdue. He had been a fool and T.J was suffering for it.

“Teresa, honey,” said Leo as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “I am so, so sorry.”

“Not as sorry as me,” she replied, words muffled by the pillow her face was buried in. “I don’t even understand this,” she continued then, pulling herself up enough to turn and look at the man she had always called Dad.

“I know, it’s a shock to you,” he sympathised, wanting to hug her but knowing that might not be what she wanted right now so keeping his distance for the most part, “but sweetheart, me and your Mom, we did what we thought was right at the time. I loved her so much, and I wanted to love you like you were my own. I do, I always will,” he promised her.

It only made T.J. want to cry all the more. None of this made any sense. At least if she were adopted she might be able to get her head around that. Aunt Mac was adopted and she turned out okay. It didn’t mean her folks loved her any less. This was crazy. Mom was still Mom, but Dad wasn’t connected to her at all. It was horrible and shocking and it made her insides screw up until she just wanted to hurl. There were no words to describe how she was really feeling, but there was at least a remedy to the confusion that was swirling around in there with all the other emotional symptoms.

“Why?” she asked Leo, gulping and hiccuping as she tried her hardest to stop crying. “Why would my Mom do that? Why wouldn’t she tell me the truth?”

“Hey, you should go easier on your Mom,” he urged her. “I know you’re seeing what she did as wrong, but I’m not a saint in all this. I knew the truth all along, I lied too,” he reminded her, only to watch T.J.’s face crumble into a wash of tears all over again.

“But you’re my Daddy” she said desperately, hating that it was a lie, hating that one out of very few people she loved and trusted in her life could be ripped away so easily.

When she reached out her arms, Leo gladly took a hold of her and hugged her tight to him, rubbing her back and trying to ease her pain in any small way that he could. He felt horrible for what this was doing to the daughter he raised as his own all these years, and loved before she was even born.

“Baby, I will always be your dad,” he promised her, holding her tight, “and I will always be here for you, if you want me around,” he said, so glad to realise that she  
probably did that tears formed in his own eyes as he hugged her, “but I can’t stand you being so mad at your Mom.”

T.J. pulled away then, looking angry still. If she were thinking rationally, she would see that both her parents lied to her equally. It wasn’t as if Veronica tricked Leo into raising a child that wasn’t his own. In fact if she thought about it, her Mom had said she slept with a guy before she got together with Leo and married him, so she hadn’t even cheated. She wasn’t the greatest person right now, but she wasn’t exactly a monster either. Unfortunately, T.J. wasn’t all about the rational thinking in this moment, she was far too caught up in the emotional turmoil of discovering she wasn’t even who she thought she was - how could she be when she didn’t even know her father’s true identity?

“She lied all this time,” said T.J., shaking her head. “You both kept it a secret, until I’m almost sixteen!” she yelled with no small amount of hysterics. “Why tell me now?

Why lie until now and then... and then make me feel like this?” she asked desperately.

“Because,” said her mother’s voice from the door and both T.J. and Leo turned around to look, “there was never a chance that you would meet your real father until now.”

Veronica was visibly shaking as she stood framed in the doorway, tear tracks on her face and fresh tears running down her cheeks still.

The story was only half told as it stood now. Leo wasn’t T.J.’s father but the real identity of that man had yet to be revealed. Things couldn’t get much worse than they already were and yet Veronica almost couldn’t stand how much the further blow might damage her daughter.

“Why is there now?” asked the teen, when nobody seemed forthcoming. “Who is he?” she asked, looking between Leo and Veronica until finally the latter answered in a soft voice that was barely her own.

“He’s... Logan Echolls,” she admitted.

T.J. screamed, or at least cried out with such pain and indigence that it might as well have been a scream. She was up off the bed and out the door before Leo could grab her and Veronica barely tried. It was a nightmare, this whole situation, and of her own making. She felt sick the the stomach, but she knew as much as she’d made this mess she had to fix it. Realising that T.J. would mean business when she ran, she gave chase with Leo on her heels and caught sight of her daughter just as she swung out of the front door.

“Woah,” said the visitor on the doorstep who had been about to knock.

Veronica ran over, yelling for T.J. to stop, right up until she came face to face with a man she hadn’t seen in years.

“Logan?” she gasped at the sight of him.

He glanced from Veronica’s tear-stained face to Leo by her side, then back down the driveway where a sobbing teen was running full pelt.

“I’m guessing this is a bad time?”


	6. Chapter 6

Teresa Jane D’Amato wasn’t much of a runner, but she was half way across town before she even slowed down today. Blinded by tears and powered purely on adrenaline, she really hadn’t been paying attention to where she was headed. If she were sensible or thinking even slightly straight, she would have headed to Sam’s house or maybe Grandpa Mars. Instead she found herself on the outskirts of the bad side of town, not entirely sure how to get back to familiar ground, or where she would go if she did.

The world no longer made sense to the girl of almost sixteen who had just been told her Dad was not her father at all. Of all unholy things, she was the offspring of movie star playboy, Logan Echolls. That was reason enough for T.J. to be glad she hadn’t run directly to Sam. As much as she loved and trusted her best friend with the information she had just learnt, there was no way she could handle the reaction right now. Sam’s default setting where Logan Echolls was concerned was bouncy with a side of crazy. If and when she discovered that the very same man was T.J.’s real father, there was just no telling how she would react.

Running to her grandfather seemed sensible. At least T.J. knew she was a Mars if she wasn’t a D’Amato, but then it occurred to her that he had to know the truth too. There was every chance Grandpa Mars had lied equally as much as her parents in all this, and what about Aunt Mac, she might know too. Uncle Wallace who had since moved away, he had to know as well. Maybe everybody knew but her. T.J. couldn’t handle it, she just couldn’t, and sunk down to sit on the edge of an unfamiliar street, sobbing her heart out into her hands right there on the kerb.

In a sensible, reasonable moment, she would realise that being out at this time by herself so close to the less-good side of Neptune was a really bad plan, but then these were special circumstances and this situation was the furthest from planned as anything ever had been in T.J.’s life.

Not knowing where she was might have bothered her if she thought on it too much. Being alone with no cash and no cell, it ought to be scary, but all T.J. could really feel was the pain of her heart breaking right now. She was so very unaware of herself, she didn’t even notice someone walking up behind her, until suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Instinct had her on her feet in a second, spinning around to face a possible attacker. Unfortunately, her movement put her straight in the middle of the road, just as a motorcycle came speeding past. She was saved in the nick as the stranger grabbed her hand and pulled, the pair of them falling over with the momentum and landing on the sidewalk with a thud. Whoever had saved her from being hit had also cushioned her fall, and yet the first words out of his mouth were to ask her if she was okay.

“I... I don’t know,” she admitted, as she shifted her body that felt more than a little odd, not just from the sudden movement but from the fact it was decidedly pressed up against the solid form of a pretty good looking young man.

Mortified as soon as she realised that she was currently in the middle of the street wriggling round on top of a guy, T.J. leapt up like a scalded cat and turned away when her saviour got to his feet too. She should be running again, that would be the smart thing to do, but her head was so messed, she was just rooted to the spot for now.

“Hey, I know you, right?” said the guy behind her. “You go to Neptune High?” he checked, pretty sure that was the only place he could have seen her before.

T.J. turned around slowly and looked properly at the mystery guy’s face, realising maybe he wasn’t such a stranger after all. It was true that she didn’t actually know him as such, didn’t even know his name, but he was familiar. He was the new guy she had run into in the halls and spent first period daydreaming about, just a little anyway.

“Uh-huh.” She nodded then, swallowing hard as she tried to get her bearings after everything that had happened here, the whole chain of events that led to this very weird moment.

“Yeah, you’re the little lady who doesn’t look where she’s going.” He smiled as he looked her over. “That’s a habit of yours, huh?”

“Not normally,” she replied, feeling dumb. “I just... I’m having a really bad day,” she admitted, the crack in her voice proving that her attempts to fight further tears were failing fast. “I’m sorry,” she apologised as she wiped tears from her cheeks. “I just... if you could just point me in the direction of... of somewhere familiar?” she said desperately, feeling so lost and stupid in so many ways.

It was strange to her newest acquaintance that she didn’t name the place she wanted to find, that she didn’t say ‘home’ or similar. Something was really wrong here, and if there was one thing his mother had drummed into him, it was that you always help people in distress, be they damsels or otherwise.

“You should come back to my house,” he told her, watching her back up a step the moment the words were spoken.

“I don’t even know you, not really,” she told him, getting ready to run he could see it in her eyes.

In retrospect, he couldn’t blame her. They really didn’t know each other and she was sensible not to let a guy take her wherever when she didn’t even know his name. He wasn’t handling this particularly well, but then he never expected to stumble upon a random white girl in the middle of the street, save her from being run down, and then have her cry in front of him.

“Well, if it helps, my name is Antonio Juarez and I live a block that way,” he pointed.

“T.J.” she gave her name as simply as that, sniffing hard right after. “I’m T.J.” she clarified, deliberately leaving off a last name.

Antonio just assumed she was being cautious, and that was fine by him. He could have no idea that this girl was having an identity crisis right now. All he did know for sure was that she was upset and apparently lost, and he really ought to help her out. The problem was, she didn’t seem too happy about going with him to his house.

“Hey, y’know, we could go anywhere else you wanna go,” he assured her. “Somebody you know who lives round here?” he suggested.

“I don’t really know any people around here.” She shook her head, her brain already racing with escape routes in case this guy turned out to be less nice than he seemed.

The truth was she would like to trust him. The first time she saw him she thought how hot he was, and now he seemed as if he was trying to be kind. Put it together and T.J. wondered what her problem really was. Of course she knew, she was just like her mother. She wanted to see the good in people but ultimately she trusted no-one, even less people after tonight’s turn of events.

“Truth is, I don’t know too many people around here either, since we only moved in last week,” Antonio admitted, one hand on the lamp-post as he swung on it some. “My mom and her new guy, they lived here before so they know some folks, but not me. Well, now I know you I guess.” He smiled.

T.J. smiled back without thinking, his own expression suprisingly infectious, despite her sorrowful mood. She soon remembered why she was here in the first place and the happy look vanished clean off her face. She shouldn’t be here and she should go now, but she still didn’t know where or how.

“Look, T.J.,” Antonio said carefully. “I know you’re all wary and stuff, but I really wish you’d let me take you back to my house,” he urged her. “My Mom is there, she can check you over, fix you a drink or food or whatever you need. You look like you need a little taking care of,” he told her, which T.J. couldn’t really deny. “And I know Weevil’d let me borrow his car to take you home after that-”

“Weevil?” she echoed the name with genuine surprise.

“Yeah.” Antonio chuckled in response. “It’s kind of a nickname.”

“I know what it is.” She smiled then even as she interrupted her new friend and caused him to look oddly at him. “He knows my mom. I actually just met him yesterday,” she explained, expression wavering as she mentioned her mother and thought of how simple life had seemed just twenty four hours before.

“Small world, huh?” Antonio smiled then. “So, you wanna come with?” he checked.

T.J. nodded her head and followed him without further concern then. After all, where else was she going to go right now?

* * *

“I’m guessing this is a bad time?” said Logan as he stared into the house at Veronica and Leo.

He wondered why they looked so upset. Sure, what could only have been their daughter had gone pelting down the driveway in tears, but it almost seemed like something so much worse than a simple teenage tantrum had occurred here. Veronica looked so broken, so beyond devastated, Logan was actually afraid to ask if someone had died or something.

“You should come inside,” said Leo before Logan had a chance to decide what he really should say or do.

Veronica didn’t look so happy about it, but the former deputy was ushering the other man in and so everyone complied. Something was wrong here, Logan was sure of it, and had been just as certain he was going to be asked to leave, the door slammed in his face. Instead he was being brought in and sat down on a comfy couch, opposite Leo who took the armchair. Veronica continued to hover around awkwardly.

“I kind of feel like I should be anywhere but here right now,” said Logan, looking from husband to wife and back.

“Actually, this is exactly where you should be,” Leo told him, before looking over Logan’s shoulder to where Veronica stood, hugging herself still. “We have to tell him.”

She nodded because she knew he was right, but barely knew where to begin. As if it hadn’t been hard enough telling T.J. the truth, and now she was off and running, goodness only knows where. With luck, she would head for Keith’s place or her best friend, Sam, perhaps. Veronica’s head was spinning, she was still wondering if she should have gone after her baby girl, and yet knowing how she could be sometimes, how fiery her temper could become, she was sure she would be better left alone. She could take care of herself, but it was dark out already...

“Veronica?” Leo prompted when she seemed to disappear into a daze. “Sweetheart, we need to talk about this. Logan has to know the truth.”

“Logan’s not so sure he wants to right now,” the man himself admitted with one hand raised for attention. “I just came here to check in, see how life had been treating an old friend-”

“Huh!” Veronica scoffed at the terms he used. “If we’d stayed just friends we wouldn’t all be in this mess,” she cried openly then and immediately Leo went over to offer the comfort of his arms.

Logan felt strange, watching the two of them. It made sense that after her whole bad boy kick with him, Veronica would end up with a good man like Leo, all decent and upstanding, but that bit tougher than good old reliable Piz in college. Yeah, Veronica and Leo made a good enough match, but it was still weird to be sat here watching them hug each other. They were married, of course they would hug. They would also kiss and make love, their daughter would not be here if they hadn’t. This is what Logan thought as he watched them a moment and then looked away.

Putting his mind off the romance between his ex and her husband got his head back to what they had been saying. That he had to know the truth about something, and for the life of him, Logan couldn’t think what that might be. He was eventually going to find out, it seemed, as the couple appeared in front of him again, holding hands. Leo sat Veronica down in the chair he had vacated, and perched himself on the arm.

“Logan,” said Veronica, with a shake in her voice that always broke a little piece of his heart everytime he heard it in the past and still now again in this moment. “The night before you left here,” she started to explain. “There were consequences to that.”

“Consequences?” he echoed, sure he probably should understand, but right now his brain wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders, so to speak.

The truth was, he had come here to see what had become of the ex he never quite got over, to find out if she was happy now. He had not been expecting teenage tears and a broken couple who must tell him some kind of secret. It was all a little much to take in, especially the next second when Veronica seemed to lose her nerve and turned to Leo for salvation.

“It’s okay,” he promised her, hugging her close with one arm around her shoulders. “Logan, the girl that ran by you at the door is Teresa Jane,” he explained to the other man, his own heart breaking even now as he spoke these words. “I raised her as my daughter but... but she’s actually yours.”

There was a full minute in which Logan Echolls was sure he wasn’t breathing. He was pretty sure time ceased moving and the world forgot to turn. A daughter? He and Veronica had a daughter that he had never met? It should be impossible, surely, and yet it had to be true.

Logan was up out of the chair without even knowing he had done it, running a hand back though his hair as he turned an absent circle in the middle of the living room that was not his own. Processing this was impossible, as Veronica cried and apologised, falling over herself with words he barely heard at all.

“I have a daughter?” he asked, as if he hadn’t understood the words he’d been told, mouth and eyes both agape as he looked from Veronica to Leo and back.

“I’m so sorry, Logan,” his ex told him honestly, even as she nodded he was right in what he said. “I wish I could go back and make it right...”

Those words hurt Leo more than anything and he couldn’t stand it any more. He muttered something about going after T.J., making sure she was okay. With his jacket and keys in his hands, he was out the door before anyone could blink, leaving Logan and Veronica alone.

They looked at each other with older, wiser eyes, but more problems than ever sat between them in this moment. Where they went from here was anybody’s guess.


	7. Chapter 7

Weevil wasn’t sure what to think about the situation he now found himself in. When his woman’s son showed up home with a girl on his arm, well, that was just fine with the ex-biker, but the fact she was a white girl that he recognised just changed everything. His eyes were wider than saucers when T.J. D’Amato walked in the front door, all red-rimmed eyes and mussed up hair. If he thought for a second that Antonio was the cause of whatever upset the chick, he’s have to kick his ass to the moon, but he figured he already knew the kid better than that. He was more decent than even Weevil himself might have been as a teen.

“Well, who do we have here?” Lena has asked curiously and with that kind smile she so often wore.

It was obvious that no matter how nice she was being, T.J. was all kinds of uncomfortable. Weevil understood that, the only white chick in the Latino neighbourhood. Hell, he knew what that was like, so often being the only Mexican on the good side of town when he was younger. Besides, as devastated as she’d clearly been by something or other, most people in her situation would want to crawl up into a corner and be alone.

“Mom, this is T.J.” Antonio had explained. “She’s kinda lost,” he explained, getting no further as Lena reacted to the blood on the girl’s arm.

T.J. hadn’t noticed it herself until it was pointed out, but clearly in the rough and tumble of almost getting hit by a motorcycle and Antonio saving her, she had got herself a minor graze.

“C’mon, honey, let’s get you cleaned up,” said Lena, without a moments pause, ushering the poor girl into the kitchen and sitting her down at the table there.

“Hey, Weevil.” T.J. forced a smile for her mother’s friend.

“Hey, yourself, young lady,” he replied with a less than happy look. “You got yourself banged up there,” he pointed out what she already knew. “What’s a girl like you even doin’ on this side of the tracks?”

“She’s lost,” said Antonio with a look, leaving Weevil in no doubt that something was wrong here.

“Your mama know you wandered this far?” asked the ex-biker, just as Lena began to dab at the graze on T.J.’s arm.

Since it was doubtful she was crying for the sake of disinfecting a minor wound, the sobbing she started up with then had to have more to do with the mention of her mother. Immediately Weevil was on high alert. If anybody had done anything to upset Veronica, they were going to have him to answer to, regardless of who was married to who these days or how many years had gone sailing by.

“Chica, you gonna have to tell me what this is all about, or we can’t help you,” he said, swinging the chair at the end of the table around and sitting down straddling it.

When T.J. continued to cry and look away, both Lena and Weevil shifted their attention to Antonio who hovered by the counter still. He shook his head in the negative, since he honestly didn’t know what was wrong. T.J. hadn’t told him either, which meant this had the potential to be a long night.

“Please, honey,” said Lena as she finished cleaning up the young woman’s arm and then put a hand to her cheek to urge her to look at her. “We only want to help,” she assured her.

T.J. sniffed hard and forced herself to be calm somehow. Though her words were garbled and her voice strained, she did manage to speak at last.

“You wanna help?” she hiccoughed. “Can you make it so my family didn’t lie to me for sixteen years?” she asked desperately. “Can you make it so Logan Echolls isn’t my father?” she cried hard again then, and Weevil got up from the table, turning his face away.

T.J. reacted almost immediately, even as Lena put an arm around her, and instructed Antonio to find some tissue for the poor girl.

“You knew!” she accused her mother’s old friend. “Oh my God, you did, you knew!”

“I didn’t know,” Weevil countered immediately as he turned back to face her. “Not for sure, T.J., I swear” he promised her, “but I wondered. Her and Leo, somethin’ didn’t add up and... well, your mom and Echolls, that was some connection those two had.”

Lena wasn’t sure what to think as she looked between the poor sobbing teen in her arms, her baffled son, and her fiancé whose expression was almost unreadable. She had it straight what had happened here. She knew T.J. was Veronica’s daughter, and that Veronica was an old friend of Eli from days gone by. They had shared so many stories about their lives, she had a rough idea of the relationships being mentioned, but she could not truly keep up without further explanation that no-one seemed willing to give.

Antonio came back into he room and dumped a box of tissues on the table by T.J. He grabbed the nearest seat and sat down behind her, reaching for her hand when she seemed stunned into silence and stillness.

“Hey. You gonna be okay?” he checked.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “It’s like... like, my whole world has been turned upside down,” she said, as her tears ran dry at last.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure she could cry any more if she wanted to. Every twist and turn in this messed up version of her history made T.J.’s heart break a little more. Her dad wasn’t her dad. Logan Echolls was her real father. Everyone seemed to know or at least suspect before she was ever told. Now she was lost on the wrong side of town, with people she barely knew. It was all such a nightmare, though she couldn’t fault this family for their kindness.

She heard Weevil and Lena as they slipped beyond the door, speaking in low voices about what happened next, and what all this really meant. T.J. tried not to hear, she turned to look at Antonio and found him looking at her in earnest. He didn’t know what to do to make her feel better, though he had tried his best tonight. He brought her to his home when she was lost, he saved her from being run down by a motorcycle, and he looked as if her own hurt was causing him pain.

“I’m sorry,” she told him.

“What for?” he asked immediately, looking ever more baffled.

“For messing up your night. For crying all over you and... and upsetting your family too,” she admitted, blowing her nose hard and loud into a wad of tissue. “I make a great first impression on a guy, don’t I?” She almost laughed at herself but couldn’t quite manage it somehow.

“Hey, it’s cool.” Antonio shrugged, squeezing her hand under his own. “Way I see it, I got to help out a damsel in distress. That’s what us knight in shining armour types live for,” he told her so ridiculously sincerely that she couldn’t help but smile. “You got a real pretty smile,” he told her easily, “and I don’t know or care if that comes from your mom or your dad or whatever,” he tried to be nice, only bringing up what had upset her so much could only make matters worse.

Before T.J. had a chance to respond, Weevil returned to the room, looking grim-faced.

“Since I figured you’re lost because you bolted, I asked Lena to call your mom and let her know you’re not dead in a ditch or something, okay?” he told T.J., who nodded that she understood. “Now, you don’t have to go back there right this second, that’s cool with me and Lena, but you gotta calm down girl, and get your head straightened out, okay?”

T.J. nodded again and thanked Weevil for being so kind.

“I appreciate it,” she assured him, “and I’m sorry I yelled before. None of this is your fault,” she realised aloud.

“For once, that’s true,” Weevil agreed, retaking his seat at the table, and eyeing the teens adjoined hands on the table with interest.

Antonio’s own was gone in an instant when he realised he’d been rumbled, and though it was hard to tell through the red blotchy face from crying, T.J. was blushing some too.

“Do you know why my mom would lie to me about my father?” she asked Weevil then, and though he would love to tell her he knew he couldn’t.

Sure, Weevil could wax lyrical on all the types of scum he had Logan Echolls down for being. They’d be there for days and nights if he started and chose not to stop til he was through. Fact of the matter was, the man was T.J.’s father, rightly or wrongly, and it weren’t his place to talk Echolls down to her. Besides, Weevil couldn’t presume to know why Veronica would let Leo raised another man’s child that way, or keep the rich white boy out of the picture. He had his suspiscions, but the only person who really knew for sure was Veronica herself.

“Chica, I wish I could tell you what I thought, but it ain’t my place.” He shook his head sadly. “You gotta know that whatever Veronica did, however bad it sounds, that woman always has a good reason,” he promised the teen. “Sure, she and Leo mighta made a mistake this time, but they’re good folks. Maybe too good sometimes.” He smirked.

T.J. knew he was right. Her parents, since that was what she would always think of Veronica and Leo no matter the truth, had always been there for her, always been decent and fair. What they had done by lying hurt her a lot, but she was getting nowhere running and hiding. Problems had to be faced. Those seemingly in the wrong had to be given a chance to explain themselves. That was how the world had to work, or not work at all.

* * *

Logan felt like a volcano ready to blow. There were so many emotions rolling around inside of him, mostly conflicted and all passionately strong. He had a daughter, a sixteen year old who had never met, but was given one mere glimpse of as she bolted past him on his arrival here at Veronica’s home. His baby girl, all grown up, without Logan ever knowing she had even been born, and the girl in question raised as a D’Amato.

He had questions. A hundred, a thousand, a million maybe as they multiplied with each moment that passed, though none quite made it past his lips. Shock over-rode everything somehow, and though he heard Veronica’s profuse apologies, he knew he ought to say something, anything, he was stunned into silence for the longest time.

By the time Logan found his voice, he had no chance to use it. First the phone rang and proved to be Lena, the unfortunate woman that now called Eli ‘Weevil’ Navarro her lover. T.J. was over at their house and just as soon as Veronica got over the relief of knowing it, she had to call Leo to let him know their daughter had been found.

Logan was left to wait and stew and fume. How dare they? How dare Veronica and Leo raise his daughter away from him, playing happily families, pretending he was never here and nothing to do with anything? Logan wanted to scream until the walls came down, and at the same time, he wanted to cry. Cry and sob his heart out for all that he had missed, and yet laugh at the same time because the whole situation was beyond ridiculous in just own way. Him, a father. The idea seemed preposterous. If it were any other woman telling him he was dad to their baby, he would laugh in their face and declare it impossible, sure they were money grabbing, gold digging whores without a Baby Daddy to call their own. Not Veronica, never Veronica. She was deadly serious and brutally honest. Logan just didn’t know how to react, and by the time Veronica got off the phone and returned to face him, he could do nothing else but explode at her.

“What the hell, Veronica?!” he yelled as he got to his feet, maybe just because he was frustrated, maybe more deliberately to tower over her - even Logan wasn’t sure right now.

“Logan, I know this is a shock-” she began to reply but he barely gave her a chance to speak.

“A shock? I’m sorry, that might just be the biggest understatement in the known world!” he continued to shout, and she couldn’t really blame him. “I have a daughter, Veronica, a teenage daughter, and you never told me!” he yelled in her face. “You kept her from me, you let another man raise her as his own. I always knew you could be a bitch but I didn’t know you could be evil!”

Her hand made contact with his face like a lightning strike, and he took it because he was a better man than his father. Whatever she did to hurt him, he had never laid a hand on her or any woman that way, and he never would. Aaron had seen to that. Logan would not become his father, though apparently he was a dad in his own right, and the realisation of it was too much to handle.

Veronica could hardly believe what she’d done as she watched Logan’s head whirl to the side from the force and surprise of the slap. When he turned slowly to meet her eyes again, she felt as sick as ever she could. This whole situation was such a mess, she had done him such wrong and she knew it. Sure, it was going too far to call her evil, but she couldn’t deny what she had done was a heinous crime.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “Logan, I am, I’m so sorry,” she repeated again, words muffled by the hand that had moved to cover her mouth with surprise at her hitting him.

It was just a reaction she couldn’t help, an overload of her senses that made her lash out without her mind really processing it. She always thought she was so strong, and she was in a lot of ways, but if she were, if she really had as much strength as Logan, she would have kept her responses to verbal at least, not physical.

Sinking down into the armchair, Veronica fought to find words enough to say to her ex. She could apologise until she was blue in the face but it wouldn’t take back what she had done, what she had denied him for sixteen years. What she really had to do was explain how they had all come to this, and yet finding a place to start and a reasonable way to phrase it all to the one person she had harmed most in all this, next to T.J. of course, it seemed impossible.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” asked Logan in a more reasonable tone now.

The thought had occurred to him, somewhere in amongst the slap, the tears, and the yelling, that none of it was doing any good.

Sure, he could yell at her until sunrise and Veronica could sob her heart out, but it wouldn’t change what had happened or get him an explanation as to why. There were questions enough in his head, they needed to be voiced and answered. He trusted Veronica enough even now to believe she would tell him the truth when he asked for it.

“You weren’t here,” she answered honestly to his question, though her eyes stayed trained on the carpet, hands supporting her head with fingers running back through her hair.

“Technology’s a wonderful thing, Veronica,” he reminded her coldly, anger rising again without his really being able to help it. “You could have called, emailed, hell, gone all out old-fashioned and written a letter,” he told her angrily. “Or was the idea of seeing me again so disgusting?”

“You know that’s not it!” she yelled back at him, looking up then with fire flashing in her eyes. “You were gone Logan, we didn’t exactly end things in a healthy way, and then you were off building a career, this new life and... and I couldn’t see me fitting into it, nevermind a baby,” she explained. “Leo was here for me, he... he loved me, and he wanted a family. It seemed like the perfect solution.”

“Picture perfect,” said Logan bitterly as he spotted the photographs stood on the mantle shelf just a few feet away.

He walked over and half smiled at the sight of the child that was apparently his own, that expression shifting into something less pleasant as he realised most contained the man his little girl called Daddy. D’Amato had taken the life Logan might have had right out from under him, marriage to Veronica and raising his daughter. Everyone always said what a stand-up guy Deputy Leo was, and now he was Sheriff, trusted by the whole town.

“Maybe the good people of Neptune would feel differently about their precious law man if they knew what a liar and a thief he was,” Logan yelled, picking up the sweet family portrait of Veronica, Leo, and a young T.J. from the mantle shelf and hurling it at the opposite wall.

The glass smashed on impact, sliding down the wall by the front door, just as Leo walked in. It was perhaps the worst case of bad timing in history. Logan was so mad and the current object of his anger was now within his sights. Like a red rag to a bull, as the saying went, Logan just launched himself across the room, smacking Leo in the mouth before he had a chance to realise what was going on.

Veronica was up from her seat a second too late. She had seen what was coming, she knew that look in her ex’s eyes after seeing it so many times before. As the two men that had meant so much in her life at different times did battle, the little blonde did her best to pull them apart. It wasn’t an easy task, but once she managed to make enough space between them to put her body in the way of further strikes, she knew it’d be okay. For all that Logan was and could be, she trusted him not to take a swing that might hit her, and Leo was never that guy.

“This isn’t helping!” she told them both loudly, a hand on both their chests, even as they continued to give each other the evil eye. “This isn’t going to help T.J.. She has to be our priority right now.”

Neither man could argue with that. The man who loved Teresa Jane like a daughter always, and the man who really was her father. Both had to have her best interests at heart, and knocking seven bells out of each other wasn’t going to help. As it was, Logan’s eye was sore enough it’d probably be black by morning, and Leo’s lip and nose were trickling blood even now. Such a good example they were both setting for their baby girl.

“Fine,” said Logan then, one ground out word that it clearly pained him to say.

“Whatever you think, this isn’t about you, Logan.” Leo shook his head, wiping the back of his hand cross his face as both men backed up a step. “This was always about doing what was right for T.J.”

“Yeah... sure it was,” Logan said in response, biting back the comment that stuck in his throat.

No matter how much Leo and Veronica tried to make this about what was best for the baby she gave birth to sixteen years ago, Logan couldn’t help but think the deputy-turned-sherrif had been equally as glad to get the girl in all this. He knew the couple dated way back in High School, before he and Veronica began their odd relationship in Junior year. Clearly Leo was holding a candle for a good long while, and then when Veronica was desperate and vulnerable, he swooped in and got just exactly what he wanted.

“T.J. will be back here before long,” said Veronica herself, looking between the two men. “Lena said just a soon as they calmed her down, they’d drive her over. I really don’t want her seeing the two of you like this.”

Forcing himself to turn his own steely gaze off Leo, Logan looked down at Veronica’s face and found himself nodding. Even after all she’d done wrong, and it was plenty right now, he couldn’t go against what she was saying, not when she looked like that. He had loved her always, never really knowing how to stop, and even now in this moment, too many old familiar feelings crept back in.

“I’ll go.” He nodded slowly. “But I’ll be back tomorrow. I’m going to meet my daughter,” he said, as much of a threat as a promise Leo reckoned, as he watched Veronica’s ex pick up his jacket from the back of the chair and stride out of the front door, slamming it behind him.

He was gone for now, but this mess was far from over, Veronica and Leo both knew that all too well. The ordeal was only just beginning.


	8. Chapter 8

It hadn’t taken too much begging and pleading before Weevil and Lena agreed to let Antonio drive T.J. D’Amato home. She ought to go with a responsible adult type, they were all aware of that, but he so wanted to be able to help the girl in some small way, and neither his mother nor would-be stepfather really wanted to deny him that. Antonio was a good kid. Sure, his intentions might not be a hundred percent honourable. He was seventeen after all, and T.J. was a very pretty girl, just like her Mom, Weevil noted. Still, he trusted the boy not to take advantage of a painful situation, he had been raised better than that, Lena would have made sure of it.

Weevil felt bad for the girl. T.J. seemed decent, a lot like her mother and a little like the man that raised her as his own. Of course, he saw hints of Logan too, even in their brief meeting. When she got mad, she was one hundred percent Echolls, and it must have killed Veronica to see that every time it happened. The blonde made her own bed and had to lie in it, just like they all did, but that didn’t mean Weevil didn’t have some sympathy for the woman. It had to be tough, knowing you were pregnant and the father was long gone, knowing even if you tracked him down things probably wouldn’t work out for the better. Leo was a stand up guy, too good for the likes of Weevil to ever truly get along with, but he made a good father for the girl that had none.

Teresa Jane D’Amato grew from the cute bouncing baby Weevil had met many years ago into a well-adjusted young woman like her mom, at least until she found out the truth of her birth tonight and went a little crazy. Anybody could forgive her that, surely, her mother and fake-father included. Weevil was actually kind of glad he let Antonio drive T.J. home, it saved him having to see Veronica and Leo, maybe even Logan Echolls. The last thing the ex-biker needed to be doing was to start giving his opinion where it wasn’t wanted. It’d make trouble that didn’t need to be there. What was necessary was a mother-daughter conversation long overdue. They had to figure this out. Broken homes and fractured families were no fun, Weevil knew that first hand, and counted himself lucky that he had landed on his feet with Lena and Antonio.

The boy was halfway across town, taking direction from his passenger who looked and sounded a whole lot better since she stopped crying. It was clear she was still upset, and that Antonio couldn’t blame T.J. for. He didn’t know much about his own father, who had died when he was only two. At least he was sure that was his dad though, his mom had never once lied. The man who was around for a few years when Antonio was a child was always called Carlos, his step-father. He was a decent man, for the most part anyway, but he was never Antonio’s real dad and he knew it always. It had to be rough on this poor girl to realise her whole life was a lie, that of all people her mother and the man she saw as her father had told her so many untruths. Now she had to face them again, and that was going to be the toughest part of all, he was sure.

“Left at the next turn,” said T.J., voice flat and surprisingly unemotional.

Antonio just nodded, and followed her directions in silence. He didn’t really know what to say to her. They only properly met a couple of hours ago, didn’t exactly know each other well. Weevil stood more chance of saying the right thing, since he at least new T.J.’s parents. Antonio was at a complete loss, and just when he thought about asking if she was going to be okay or something equally as inane, the girl beside him pointed down the street to the end house and indicated it was her own.

The car pulled up to the kerb, and T.J. released the seat belt but didn’t actually make a move to get out of the car.

“You okay?” asked Antonio, shutting off the engine, feeling really dumb when she turned to look at him then. “Yeah, that was just the dumbest question I could’ve asked, right?”

T.J. almost laughed at that, not because it was really all that funny, but because if she didn’t she might just start crying again. Antonio was so sweet, he’d been a real friend when she needed one tonight, despite the fact they really didn’t know each other until a couple of hours before. She couldn’t thank him enough for being there for her, but there was so little he could do to really help now.

“I just... I feel like if I stay here, if I don’t go in and hear any more of the truth, then maybe it won’t be real,” she said, looking at her house and then back at her new-found friend. “Now I guess I sound dumb.” She shook her head sadly.

“No. I actually get it,” he told her kindly. “Okay, don’t laugh but, well, when I was a little kid, I had this dog named Benji,” he told her, hoping to take her mind off things or provide some empathy maybe, even he wasn’t sure, but he was going with it because it was all he had. “That dog, man, he went everywhere with me. He was like my best friend when I needed a buddy, y’know? And then one day I get out of school and my mom is there looking all sad. She had to tell me Benji got hit by a car and he was gone.”

“That’s awful,” said T.J., putting a hand to her chest. “Oh my God, how old were you?”

“Six or seven maybe?” Antonio shrugged. “Anyway, I asked my mom if we could go to the play park for a while, then we went for ice-cream, then over to my grandparents house. Mom finally asked me what was going on ‘cause every place we left I wanted to go to another one, anywhere that wasn’t home. I guess I thought that if I didn’t go home and see the empty basket and hear the silence, then Benji wouldn’t really be gone, y’know?”

“Uh-huh.” T.J. nodded, so grateful that he could understand her, even in some small, seemingly insignificant way.

“I know my dog is so not as big a deal as your dad and everything but-”

“But I appreciate the sentiment, honestly, I do,” T.J assured him with a watery smile. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me tonight. I won’t forget,” she told him, leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek.

The next moment she was gone, and Antonio barely had time to register the fact she had said ‘thank you’ and ‘see you around’ before she was at her front door, and he was alone.

“You’re welcome,” he said to himself with a smile he couldn’t help. “And man, I hope so.”

* * *

Veronica had just brought a bag of ice from the kitchen for Leo’s lip when the front door opened and T.J. walked in. The poor teen didn’t really know what she expected to find beyond the door. Maybe a fight, maybe her mother crying, maybe both. She had just made it over the threshold when Veronica launched herself at her, hugging her tight and sobbing all over her.

T.J. hugged her mother back on instinct more than anything else. She didn’t want her Mom to be so upset, but she was still mad as hell at her for all the lies. Looking over Veronica’s shoulder, she saw her dad (because that was what Leo would always be to her) approaching, his face bloodied and bruised.

“What happened?” asked T.J. in a panic, but Leo waved away her concern.

“I’m fine, sweetheart, it’s nothing,” he assured her, reaching to hug her when Veronica was done.

“Did he do that to you?” asked his daughter, eyes flashing with fire. “Did Logan Echolls do that?” she repeated when no-one answered her.

“I’m not proud of it but, yeah, we got into a fight,” Leo admitted, suddenly noticing the mashed picture on the floor and moving to pick it up. “I guess he did this too?” he checked with Veronica who nodded sadly.

T.J. didn’t look so much sad as she did angry, maybe even furious as she yelled.

“I hate him!” she all but screamed. “I hate Logan Echolls and everything about him! I never ever want him anywhere near me!”

“No, T.J., you can’t blame him for this,” said Veronica desperately, not even all that relieved that her daughter had stopped blaming her right now.

“Yes, I can!” she shouted angrily. “We were fine, we were... we were happy until he came here,” she continued, voice thick with emotion and cracking down from an angry yell to a desperate whimper as she began to cry all over again. “If he hadn’t come back you never would’ve told me the truth, and everything would be okay,” she sobbed.

“Oh, baby.” Veronica broke down alongside T.J. as she reached for her daughter and held her tight.

She couldn’t deny the girl had a point. It would have been easier to keep up the facade, to never have had to tell her that Leo wasn’t her real father. Still, Logan couldn’t be blamed. He was as much a victim in all this as T.J. is so many ways. Had he run away from his responsibility, knowing he should be there, then Veronica could hate him just as T.J. was trying to pretend she did. As it was, he was oblivious until a couple of hours ago, just as his daughter had been.

Leo felt the most like a third wheel he ever had in his life as he hovered behind the two women that meant the most to him, still holding the photograph of the three of them in its shattered frame. The irony of the metaphor was not lost on the Sheriff of Neptune. His family was as broken as the glass that tumbled through his fingers now and onto the well-worn carpet.

He and Veronica couldn’t sustain a marriage not really. They fooled themselves that she loved him enough, that he could live with being second best, but it never really could have lasted. Now the last piece of his happiness was falling away, as his baby girl would have to be told all about her real father, would have to meet him and build a relationship. No matter how she tried to prevent it or said she would try, T.J. would not be able to feel the same about him, and he would drift away from the family unit that he had loved so long.

“Daddy?” her voice cut through the dark thoughts that filled Leo’s head and he looked up from the ground to meet her sparkling eyes. “Please tell me you’re not going anywhere?” she begged of him. “Just because I know the truth now, just because he’s back in town, I can’t... I still want you to be my dad,” she told him desperately.

“Always, baby,” he promised her, pulling her close and hugging her tight, mindful of the picture in his hand. “I am here as long as you need me, as long as either of you need me,” he said with a specific look over his daughter’s shoulder at Veronica.

“We need you now,” his ex-wife admitted, sniffing hard. “I think T.J. deserves a real explanation about what happened before she was born.”

“Agreed.” Leo nodded, only glad he was allowed to be a part of this family still, however painful his role must be right now.

“I don’t want the whole story.” T.J. shook her head as she pulled out of Leo’s embrace. “I mean, I do, maybe, later. Right now, I just need to get some sleep, if that’s okay?”

“Of course, honey,” Veronica agreed, sharing one last hug with her baby girl before T.J. took herself off to bed.

“You really think she’ll sleep?” asked Leo when T.J. was gone from sight.

“I don’t know,” his ex-wife admitted with a heavy sigh. “I really don’t think I could.”

He reached for her on instinct and pulled her into a brief hug, kissing her forehead without thinking. He was soon hissing with pain, backing up a step with his fingers to his split lip.

“I should go deal with this, get cleaned up, probably get some sleep if I can,” he said then, thinking of the fact it was mid-week and tomorrow would come with work responsibilities and all.

Veronica nodded as she realised he was right. No matter what else was happening in their lives, they still had to continue to function. They had work and T.J. had school. This curve ball didn’t change all that.

As they ex couple parted ways, Veronica stood watching Leo drive away until he was completely out of sight, and then silently closed the front door. She leaned her back against it and her eyes drifted up to the top of the stairs as she thought of T.J. and all she had gone through today. She was so angry and upset, her mother couldn’t blame her for that, but so much of the bile was directed at Logan. He was angry too, and his daughter was a complete reflection of him when she got mad. Bringing two such explosive people together seemed like the worst idea ever, and yet there was no choice. Veronica knew Logan could not live knowing he had a daughter and never getting to see her, but she also knew how stubborn Teresa could be. No part of this was ever going to be easy, Veronica knew that already, but it was her mess that she had made, and she would have to do her best to handle the consequences, come what may.


	9. Chapter 9

Logan wasn’t sure why he bothered trying to sleep. It seemed like a pointless exercise long before he ever changed out of his clothes and climbed under the covers, but there was nothing else he could do until morning but try. His head was far too busy to really relax even enough to doze off for a short while. He had a daughter, it was the most ridiculous concept to Logan Echolls and he hardly knew how to process it.

If anybody else had told him he was a father, Logan would have been calling lawyers, arranging a paternity test, and suing the lying bitch for slander. This was different, because this was Veronica Mars. She didn’t lie to him, not about anything that ever mattered, not about this. He could say she was a liar for keeping his fatherhood from him for sixteen years, but that was more of a concealment than an out and out untruth. He hadn’t been around, and though that didn’t excuse what she had done, it didn’t mean he didn’t believe her when she said Teresa Jane was his own child.

She had been raised a D’Amato by Veronica and Leo. Logan was mad as hell about that, but the more he thought on it the more he realised T.J. was probably more well adjusted for that upbringing than she might have been had he been around to play Daddy himself. That didn’t mean he would’ve minded being given a chance to try with his own child, but he never thought for a moment that Leo wouldn’t make a fine father figure. The guy was all but a saint around Neptune these days. Good old Sheriff D’Amato, he couldn’t be faulted. How quickly people forgot the past when it suited them.

Leo was the same guy that stole evidence tapes to aid the trial against Logan’s own father, Aaron. He sold those tapes to Logan himself so he could destroy them, so the world would never see the great Aaron/Lilly affair in living colour. It made Logan sick to think of the kind of favour the other man had done for him. Sure, he had to pay for the tapes, but he got what he wanted and that was all that mattered then. Besides, hadn’t he been told afterwards that the money he gave went towards putting Leo’s disabled sister through school? Logan couldn’t be mad about that. That didn’t stop him being angry about other things, about that asshole who called himself a lawman stealing his daughter, as well as the love of his life, right out from under him.

Veronica Mars. That would be her name, no matter who she married or what she thought. Logan hadn’t really been able to get her out of his head these past seventeen years. It wasn’t as if he thought of her constantly, but he came damn close at times. All the times he wondered if she was happy, if she had stayed in Neptune or moved on, if she was single or married, a mother perhaps. He never would have guessed for a moment that she was married to Leo or raising a child the two of them created the night before he left Neptune, seemingly forever.

Life was supposed to improve when he got out of the town that had brought him so much pain. L.A. hadn’t seemed far enough so he had plumped for New York in the beginning. His parents had actor and director contacts there as much as anywhere, he knew he could get work in whatever part of film production he wanted. Acting seemed easy enough, they called him a natural, though Logan hadn’t been sure if they were humouring him then. He guessed not, after all he had learnt to play so many parts over the years, showing the cameras one face, his friends another, his girlfriend a third. Trying to be everything that everyone wanted him to be, and himself only when it suited the crowd.

Maybe it was being the many faces of Logan Echolls that had stopped things working out with Veronica the first time around. Later, it was definitely being too honest and open that had caused the trouble. In the end, it was hard to say what had really gone wrong. They loved each other, he never doubted his own feelings or hers on that score, but Logan knew the same as Veronica did that what ought to have been a nurturing relationship for the both of them was only destructive in truth. They were both so stubborn, both so fiercely independant, the very best example of unstoppable force versus immovable object. He had to walk away when he did, he was sure it had been for the best, and yet he had been gone just a month when he first wished he had stayed.

.

The apartment was big and luxurious. He took one look at the place and signed on the dotted line, not bothered by the price tag. He had cash enough to cover it, and it was just a couple of months til he turned twenty one, then he would be swimming in his parents fortune, all left to him.

This was the life most guys would dream of, Logan knew, as he laid back on an over-sized bed, with a flat screen TV on the opposite wall and a PA on the the end of the phone that would give him anything he wanted, including herself.

The truth was, Logan had hired the woman for her beauty as much as her brains, counting on the fact he could make use of her if he really wanted to. He wondered now what he’d been thinking, or if he’d even been thinking at all. Katie was everything a rich man dreamed of, not only would she literally bend over backwards to please him, Logan knew she would never expect anything from him. She wasn’t looking for love, she was looking for a good career move, and perhaps another famous notch on her lipstick case. This was what he had been reduced to, it seemed, far away from the love he thought he once knew.

Veronica Mars. She was miles away in physical terms, and even further emotionally. Logan had replayed their last night together in his mind almost every evening since, and this one would be no exception. He kept wondering if he should have called her, gone to see her, to talk about what they’d done. Instead, he ran, being the coward he too often proved himself to be, especially where his ex was concerned.

Looking at the phone on the nightstand, Logan considered who he might call. Would Veronica really appreciate him making contact now, one month after they parted so badly? When there was a whole country between them? When tomorrow signalled the start of his acting career proper?

Putting a hand over his eyes, Logan growled as if he wanted to scream but wouldn’t give in to it. This was insane, he was insane, there was no other explanation. He had come here to move on, to allow Veronica to do the same. He needed a distraction, a reason not to think about her for a little while.

Logan picked up the phone and dialled, the honeyed tones of his assistant purring in his ear. His instructions were short and not so sweet, and she promised to be there inside fifteen minutes. Before she ever arrived, Logan was not at all proud of himself. By the time Katie left, long before dawn, he knew he would never be able to shower enough.

.

Logan had been such a fool. Sexual encounters with one assistant after another, one fan after another, it had all been meaningless. Mostly he had to be drunk to even do it, and when he was lucid enough to be aware, he mostly thought of Veronica and how little all this meant without her.

As the years rolled by, it ought to have got easier. Logan tried to date, to build a real relationship with another woman. More than once it lasted a few weeks, but never more. It was difficult enough weeding out the gold diggers, to find ‘a nice girl’, but then they never suited him either. He was way too damaged to be the right guy for some pleasant and reasonable young woman to cope with. There was only one with the right mix of sass and sweetness, and he left her behind too long ago.

Back in Neptune now, Logan had stupidly thought he might even still stand a chance with his ex. He had told her once their love was epic, coming back here could have proved it. If she was single, even though she was divorced, he figured something could maybe happen. The bombshell of discovering she had borne his daughter and hidden the child from him for sixteen years was perhaps the very last thing he had expected.

It seemed to Logan that there had never been a woman in his life that he’d had a really good relationship with, ranging from his mother and half-sister, to Lilly and Veronica, to any PA or fan he could remember the name of, and a lot that he couldn’t. Now he had a daughter, who didn’t know him and probably wouldn’t want to given she had been raised by another man. To T.J. her Daddy was Leo D’Amato. Logan was probably somewhere between a face on the TV and a vague memory of her mother’s that rarely came into conversation.

Glancing towards the window, Logan realised he had spent the entire night not so much sleeping, just wondering about the past and the future, enough to make his head spin. Reaching for his watch on the locker by the bed, he realised it was still pretty early, but if he wanted to meet his daughter today, he may as well go now. It was a school day after all, and if this kid was Veronica’s daughter there was no way she’d be allowed to cut. His Veronica would be a stricter Mom than that, he was sure.

Logan was smiling in spite of himself as he got dressed. Considering what kind of mother his ex would make was almost as bizarre as imagining what kind of father he might be himself. Now it was time to find out apparently. For the first time ever, he was going to meet his daughter, and he was stupidly terrified.

* * *

T.J. was almost relieved to hear her mother moving around downstairs so early. The clock said it wasn’t even five in the morning yet, but there was no way T.J. could sleep. She had been so upset, she had dozed off for a while, but once awake again, her head started spinning with questions and theories to a point where she knew she was never going to get any more rest until she spoke to her Mom.

The moment she realised she was already up herself, T.J. got out of bed, threw on her robe and padded downstairs. Veronica was to be found in the living room, cleaning up. She had to be busy, it was what she did when things got to her or upset her. She had to throw herself into something that would either fix the problem, or if that wasn’t possible, just anything at all that might take her mind off the pain and trouble.

“Hi,” said T.J. from the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey,” her mother turned around, tried for a smile but it didn’t quite take. “I didn’t know you were awake, but then I guess sleeping isn’t too easy right now.”

She felt ridiculously awkward. Veronica never thought she could feel this way with her own daughter, but then maybe she should have seen it coming. This particular conversation was never going to be an easy one, but there was just no avoiding it anymore.

“I, uh... I really don’t know where to start, Mom,” T.J. shook her head. “I know I have questions.”

“And I want to answer them, honey, I really do,” her mother promised her, “but first of all, please, I have to tell you how sorry I am about all of this. It’s my fault, it’s all my fault. Not your dad’s, or Logan’s, all mine,” she told her, as she came over and grabbed a hold of her hands.

T.J. couldn’t help but smile at the words Veronica used. She was still referring to Leo as Dad, and to Logan as a separate entity. That’s how T.J. wanted it right now and believed she always would. That didn’t mean she could avoid the fact that biologically she was half Mars and half Echolls, rather than the D’Amato she always thought she was. She meant what she said about having questions, and she could see that Veronica meant every word of her apology.

“I know you’re sorry.” She nodded, tears in her eyes to match her mother’s own. “And I wanna say I understand and I forgive you but... but I can’t do any of that unless you talk to me about this,” she explained. “I can’t wrap my head around it, I just... I need you to help me,” she said, voice already shaking.

“I know, honey,” Veronica agreed, pulling her daughter into a hug and glad when she didn’t fight it. “I already called Grandpa Mars, he’s going to cover for me today, and I left a message for your principal saying you wouldn’t be in school today,” she told her, putting her hands to T.J.’s face and making her look at her then. “We have all day together, and I will answer any questions you want, just please, T.J., don’t hate me for this, because it would break my heart.”

“I could never hate you,” her daughter told her, tears streaking down her cheeks. “I love you, Mom, you know I do. I couldn’t ever not, but I can’t understand why you did this to me, to my dad.”

Veronica was sure she meant Leo when she said Dad and yet there were two men that the P.I. had ended up hurting with her lies. Leo knew the score when he chose to raise her baby as his own, when he married Veronica and allowed Teresa Jane to be registered as a D’Amato. This still had to be painful for him though, now that the truth was out. Meanwhile, Logan lived in oblivion for over sixteen years, and now had the pain of a loss he hadn’t known he was enduring until now. They were both T.J.’s dad in different ways, be it from biology or just from being there. Now Veronica had to explain to her very confused and understandably upset daughter how that had happened.


	10. Chapter 10

Mother and daughter sat down on the couch, box of tissue on standby on the coffee table as T.J. turned to Veronica and waited for her to begin. Veronica didn’t really know where to start. She almost wished T.J. would ask questions outright, but then panicked that answering them would be harder than any explanation she tried to give without prompting.

“So, he didn’t know you were pregnant?” asked T.J. out of the blue.

“No, Logan didn’t know.” Veronica shook her head. “I know I should’ve told him but... He and I had a very complicated relationship.” She sighed, knowing that she was going to have to find away to abridge so many complex events in her history with Logan in order to get this out before the day was done. “Logan was my best friend’s boyfriend when we started High School,” she said, deciding it was the only real place to start. “After Lilly died, well, we didn’t get along so well. We kind of blamed each other for her death, I guess, but then we realised we were just angry because we cared for each other, and we were on-and-off through High School.”

T.J. nodded along, willing her mother to get on with the story. It was kind of crazy to think of her mother dating a famous actor, and never having mentioned it once. Now she supposed she knew why given her secret parentage, but it was so much to take in. “We were together going into college, but every time we seemed happy there was just always something that came between us,” Veronica went on to explain. “I could tell you it was all his fault for being jealous or out of control or whatever, but it was me too,” she sighed. “I wanted him to be a certain way that he couldn’t be, but I expected him to love me without any changes at all. Relationships are about comprimise and Logan and me, we just couldn’t seem to reach one,” she shrugged, finding it sad and almost pathetic even now.

They had danced around each other so long, loved and lost, fought and cried. It was an unholy mess of a relationship, and all it really needed was for the two of them to grow up. Instead, Logan had run, and Veronica had let him, the two of them forced to be adults after they parted when she realised she had a new life growing inside her, and he took on a career, following in the footsteps of his famous family. It was a shame they couldn’t have figured out their issues together rather than apart, then this conversation would not have to be happening.

“So, you weren’t dating when he left?” said T.J. then, cutting through the mists of time that had settled in her mothers head.

“No,” Veronica confirmed. “He was single, I had just broken up with my boyfriend. I went over to his place when I heard he was leaving, we got into yet another stupid fight and... and then...”

“And then you made me, right?” her daughter filled in for her, with a completely unreadable expression that even Veronica couldn’t figure.

“We did.” She nodded once. “In the morning, I ran before he had a chance to, and we never saw each other again... until yesterday.”

T.J. nodded that she had followed the plot of the true story, but she wasn’t grasping how this had come to pass, how her whole life had been a lie. She understood tumultuous relationships, she’d seen the soap operas and the movies. More than that, she had heard tales of her mother’s clients and domestic disturbances her father had dealt with. It wasn’t always a case of marry the man or woman of your dreams and live happily ever after, that almost never happened outside of fairytales. Relationships were tough and took work, she understood that. One night stands happened, affairs, pain and heartache. She just never thought her own family would be caught up in something like this.

“Why didn’t you call him when you found out you were having me?” she asked then, curled up in the corner of the couch looking strangely small and vulnerable.

Veronica hated to see her little girl look that way. From a small child, T.J. never failed to appear larger than life, almost appearing several inches taller than her real height. She was a tower of strength and sometimes a little too much attitude. She was Veronica and Logan combined and never showed fear or weakness to the world if she could help it. Right now she might as well have been a terrified bunny in the headlights of a Mack truck.

“I almost did,” said Veronica, clearing her throat. “I almost called him so many times, but no time seemed like the right time and... T.J., you need to understand that I didn’t keep you and Logan apart because he’s a bad person or because I ever regretted you - I didn’t,” she swore. “The truth was, I was scared.”

Those words were surprising in themselves, T.J. realised. Her mother really didn’t do scared. In her line of work, she couldn’t afford to, and yet telling Logan Echolls that she was about to or had given birth to his daughter had terrified her.

Veronica herself now recalled one particular time she had almost told her ex the truth, and relayed the tale to T.J. as it came to mind.

.

Leo had left to go to work, her father wouldn’t be back til late, and Veronica was alone in the apartment, clutching the sonogram picture of the baby growing inside her. They weren’t sure yet if the child would be a boy or a girl, but one thing Veronica knew for sure was that this was a baby made of her and Logan Echolls. A couple of months after the very first scan that showed the life going inside her, Leo had promised Veronica to be there by her side always. He offered to raise this baby as his own son or daughter and she had agreed.

Veronica didn’t want to regret that decision made already. She didn’t want to make Leo a bad guy for offering her so much, a whole chunk of his life and his heart that she felt she had no right to take. Still, she felt guilty for her deception. Leo was going into this with his eyes wide open, but everyone else around them was oblivious to the truth, even her own father. For Veronica, it was a toss up as to which was worse - lying to her dad, or lying to Logan.

Her eyes strayed to the phone and Veronica’s breath caught in her throat. She could call them, either of them, and tell the truth. She could wait until her dad came home and confess her lie, ask for his forgiveness, and she knew that she would get it. Unfortunately, she also knew how he would feel about her keeping the baby’s existence from Logan. After their own paternity dramas, the Mars family knew better than anyone what pain and suffering came from these secrets and lies. Veronica knew what she was doing was wrong, of course she did, and yet she felt compelled to do it anyway.

A hundred different scenarios ran through her head, all different ways that Logan could react to the news that he was going to be a father. Half of them started out well with him being thrilled at the prospect, but took a nose dive into tragedy the more Veronica thought on them. Either he would come back to Neptune, cutting short his acting career, and eventually resenting her for ruining his life. The alternative was her going to New York, leaving her own life behind to help him chase his dream, and probably spending more time fighting over these things than loving each other.

Then there was the possibility of him taking it badly. There had never been a serious conversation between the young couple about children. They had both mentioned in passing that they could stand to be parents, one day, way off in the distance. The possibility of it happening so soon had never come to mind, and Veronica thought there was still every possibility of Logan telling her she should get rid of their baby or something.

The idea of seeing him again both scared her and thrilled her all at once. He was gone from Neptune and belonged to the world now, not just to her. He would be a star, she knew it. His family name may be tinged with the worst side of fame and more, but the Echolls were still known as celebrities in their own way. There were contacts in Logan’s life, people he could go to for a boost in the business. He would be rich and famous and successful. There was no room for Veronica in that life, even less so a baby.

Veronica rolled onto her side, putting her back to the phone, her decision quite made. She wouldn’t call, she wouldn’t tell. Her friends and neighbours would believe she and Leo got back together and the baby was his own. They could get married, raise their child, be happy. Veronica knew she was fooling herself in so many ways, the tears on her cheeks proved it as she tried in vain to tell herself everything would be okay. Her life had never been so simple and perfect, and she couldn’t believe it would start now.

.

“Grandpa Mars doesn’t know?” asked T.J. when Veronica was done with her tale of the past.

“He does.” Her mother nodded solemnly. “Later, I had to tell him the truth. Keeping the secret was killing me and... and in the end, there were three people I had to confide in, or I never would’ve got through all this.”

T.J. was mad about the fact so many people knew of her true parentage while she was in the dark, but she was trying her best to see this from her mother’s point of view. She had tried to do what was best for everybody at the time, and she truly regretted the pain she had caused, that much was clear. Of course, that didn’t change the fact that T.J. still needed answers.

“Grandpa Mars, Uncle Wallace?” she guessed at who must know what had happened.

“Yes.” Veronica nodded again. “And Aunt Mac. When the divorce happened, she went kinda gung ho on your dad... on Leo,” she said awkwardly. “She couldn’t understand why we were breaking up and the only way to explain was to tell her the truth. We went through a tough time then.” She sighed.

“I remember.” T.J. frowned. “I remember you crying and I thought it was about dad, but then he was here and telling you it would be okay... that never made sense.”

“Mac thought I’d done a bad thing in pretending Leo was your dad, which I did, I know,” Veronica explained. “It’s a touchy subject with her, sweetheart, I can’t say more than that.” She shook her head.

T.J. didn’t like that there seemed to be more secrets at every turn, but then this one belonged to Aunt Mac and therefore must be kept by others. It had to have something to do with her being adopted, but that was for Mac to explain if she ever wanted to. T.J. had some understanding and respect for other peoples personal matters, so she let it go. She had enough stuff of her own to figure out right now.

“Grandpa Mars must’ve understood in the end. Uncle Wallace too,” she considered, remembering them parting with her Mom’s BFF on good terms, and her grandfather never doing anything less than loving and spoiling the both of them.

“Wallace admitted that he already thought maybe you were Logan’s daughter.” The blonde smiled a little sadly at the memory. “I guess he saw him in you, the way I do sometimes,” she admitted, as T.J. ducked her face away, not wanting to hear she was anything like the father she had yet to properly meet. “Your grandpa, he was very, very mad at me, first for lying and second for being so stupid as to get myself pregnant by Logan Echolls of all people, especially the night before he left Neptune for good.” She sighed heavily. “I honestly wondered if he’d ever forgive me.”

“But he did,” said T.J. then. “Everybody did, and I want to,” she admitted. “But Mom, it really, really hurts,” she said, as tears poured down her cheeks one more time.

Veronica reached to hold her, and kissed the top of her head as she tried to bring any comfort she could. It was hurting her too, to see poor Teresa in so much pain. Her little girl, she meant the absolute world to Veronica, and she hated so much how she had come to be hurt badly by the news of her true parentage. These last two days together couldn’t really get much worse, between her daughter’s agony, her ex-husband’s pain, the fight between T.J.’s two ‘fathers’, and all the rest of the fallout that occurred, just because Veronica let the truth be hidden away this one time.

“Oh,” Veronica reacted when the doorbell rang three times in a row.

“Who would be here this early?” asked T.J., wiping her face on the backs of her hands the moment her mother released her from a tight hug.

Veronica didn’t answer, since she was pretty sure she already knew the answer and T.J. would not like it. Getting up and straightening herself out, she headed for the door and opened it cautiously.

“Logan,” she greeted him with a sniff that couldn’t be helped.

“Hey,” he replied flatly, his eyes following T.J. then as she bolted up the stairs right in front of him.

Though Veronica called after her, she didn’t stop running, and her bedroom door slammed with ferocity just a second or two later. Veronica closed her eyes a moment and took a deep breath. She deserved this, this whole entire mess that she had made, but honestly, she had no idea how to deal with this situation. Here she had the father of a child that so wanted to see her, and a child that had no inclination whatsoever to meet him.

“This is so much easier to handle when I’m not in the middle,” she said more to herself than to Logan as she ushered him inside.

He had a hundred things he wanted to say, that were all swimming around in his head in a whirl right now, but none seemed to want to make it past his lips. As much as Veronica had hurt him with her lies, as much as he ought to be boiling mad at her, seeing her tear-stained and heart-broken still tore at his insides. He couldn’t delight in her pain, not even now, and would never want to.

“I’m sorry,” he found himself saying, despite the fact he was probably the least to blame in this whole situation.

It had occurred to him that if he never came back here none of this would ever have happened, and Logan felt some guilt at upsetting T.J. so much. No, it wasn’t really his fault, he never lied to the girl, he hadn’t deliberately abandoned her. Until yesterday, he had no idea she existed, never mind that she was his own flesh and blood. Still, he felt bad.

Veronica looked up the stairs where her daughter had run and then at Logan. She shook her head, though neither of them were sure if the negative gesture was meant to say his apology wasn’t needed or just that she had no idea where to begin with words. She found her voice just a moment later in any case.

“If anyone should be sorry, it’s very much me,” she said softly. “Sorry I lied to my daughter, sorry I kept things from you, sorry I let myself believe what Leo told me about any of this being a good idea. As much as I love T.J. and wouldn’t trade her for the world... I’m most sorry I was so weak that last night before you left, that we were both so young and stupid!” she said frustratedly.

“I never regretted that night,” said Logan then, without even thinking about it.

Veronica had walked half way to the couch when he spoke, but turned back the instant the words left his lips. She wasn’t sure what to make of what he said. Sleeping with her the night before he left Neptune had created their daughter, and in that sense, Veronica couldn’t ever truly want to take it back. Of course, if they had made better decisions that night, T.J. would never be here for Veronica to know about. They might have gone on with their lives quite happily, together or apart, and none of this would be happening now. As it was, time couldn’t be changed, nor circumstances of the past altered. Things were as they were now, and must be dealt with as best as anyone could.

“I don’t know what to say, Logan,” she admitted, sitting down heavily on the couch then. “I wish that I did, I wish there was some easy way to make this all okay, but no matter how many times I say I’m sorry, no matter what...” she stopped then, not deliberately but just because she couldn’t form any further words.

With her fingers pushed deep into her hair and her eyes to the carpet, Veronica started sobbing again. She hated this. She never cried so much in her whole life, not even when she found out she was pregnant and wondered how she would ever cope with a baby so young.

Logan felt stupid, in all kinds of ways as he stood in the doorway, looking between his crying ex and the stairs up which his stranger of a daughter had recently run. He didn’t belong here, and yet he loved both these people in the strangest way. Veronica had been his other half and he had thought for the longest time they really were epic and destined to be together some day. Teresa Jane was his daughter, made of him and the only woman he ever loved so much, and yet he had never officially met her, and still wouldn’t today by the seem of things.

Veronica almost forgot Logan was there at all as she cried, until suddenly she was startled to feel the odd familiarity of his body beside hers, his hand on her back, trying to bring any kind of comfort. It didn’t make sense, after all these years, as mad as he ought to be at her and everything. Still, when his arms opened to hold her, she went into them willingly and sobbed into his shoulder as she had done so many years ago when things got really bad.

To have the woman he loved most in his arms again, it conjured up a strange feeling inside of Logan’s heart. He had returned to Neptune because it made sense to him to come back to where he had spent his formative years. Still, as crazy as it sounded, he had not felt like he had truly come home until this moment.


	11. Chapter 11

Logan wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting on the couch with Veronica in his arms, until he started to lose the feeling in one of them. Still, he didn’t ask her to move at all. She may have done wrong here, in fact she definitely had, but her pain was Logan’s pain and he couldn’t stand it. He had to comfort her, it was as if it was built into his DNA to hold her until her tears ceased and promise her everything would be okay, even if he had no idea that it actually would be.

The sound of loud music booming overhead made both of the ex-couple jump, and Veronica put a hand to her head. 

“Oh, great. The ‘drown my sorrows in my stereo’ technique.” She sighed, now out of Logan’s arms at last.

“At least we know she’s still up there.” He shrugged, then off her odd look he explained. “She’s _our_ daughter, Veronica, its hardly a stretch to think she went out the window and ran again.”

Veronica wasn’t sure what to say to that. There was no denying he was probably right, and yet what had caught her attention most was his use of the word ‘our’. He was right, of course. T.J. was their daughter, made of the two of them, not her and Leo like she pretended but her and Logan. That made Teresa both very lucky and entirely cursed, she supposed, given the mixture of their personalities within her.

“Honestly?” She sighed, looking towards the stairs. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she had the stereo on a timer so it would start after she left,” she said, looking down at Logan who smiled back at her.

That was just the kind of stunt one of them would have pulled in their youth, probably to sneak out and be together. There was really no doubting that it was their daughter up those stairs, no question at all.

“I should go check on her.” Veronica shook her head as she stepped away.

Immediately, Logan was on his feet reaching for her arm.

“I’ll go, please,” he urged her. “C’mon, Veronica, I’m not trying to guilt trip you here but you’ve had the last sixteen years,” her reminded her. “Let me try and talk to her now, please?”

Veronica knew she had no way to argue with him. He was perfectly right, and he had every reason to want to get to know the daughter it had taken too long for him to meet. She couldn’t imagine things ending well if Logan went up to talk to T.J. now, but at some point they had to face each other, and Veronica wasn’t sure she could bear to be piggy in the middle for the rest of her life.

“Sure, go.” She nodded, gesturing for Logan to do as he wanted. “Right across from the top of the stairs, that’s her room,” she explained.

“I’m guessing the door that’s shaking to the rhythm of... Joan Jett if I’m not mistaken.” He smiled easily and headed for the stairs.

Logan wasn’t really sure what he was doing or what he was going to say when faced with his very upset teenage daughter. He doubted any parent really had a clue how to deal with such a situation, but at least they’d had the first sixteen years to get to know their child. He’d had two glimpses of the girl that was perfectly Veronica in the way she was built, but just a little bit himself when her eyes flashed with anger and pain. It wasn’t much to build an opinion or a father-daughter relationship on.

“Er, Teresa?” he said, rapping on her door, unsurprised when she didn’t answer.

Not bothering to stand on ceremony, Logan let himself in the surprisingly unlocked door.

“Get out of my room!” she yelled over her shoulder, lying on her bed with her back to him.

“That would be a no,” the father she didn’t care for responded as he flipped off her stereo without a moments pause. “See, I know you probably think you invented teenage angst, but me and your mom? Yeah, we wrote the book,” he told her, with a tome of some kind in his hand as he moved it off the bed and sat down. “All six volumes, I’m pretty sure.”

T.J. turned over to look daggers at him, completely unimpressed by his presence, but at least a little in awe of his gall. It was weird how he didn’t look much like the face on TV, and damn scary to realise that when he smirked he looked a little like her when she wore the same expression. T.J. pulled her knees up to her chest and wiped the back of her hand across her face.

“I don’t know you.” She shook her head. “I don’t wanna know you, you’re not my dad,” she spat nastily.

Logan took it all in his stride, as usual.

“Ah, the Echolls family temper,” he noted. “Or maybe it’s the Mars family temper? Either way, it was pretty much a given you’d have it,” he told her, pulling one leg up under himself as he got comfy on the opposite edge of the bed.

“I’m like my mom, not like you,” she sneered, looking away.

It was awful, she hated all this. Just a day or so ago, her whole life made sense to her. She didn’t always love everything about it, but it did make sense. She had a family that loved her, a best friend she could go to in a crisis, she was keeping her grade point average up where it should be, and she was about to turn sixteen. Life was okay for a teenage girl living in Neptune, but now everything had been turned on its head. Leo was not her father, there was no way to turn to Sam with the knowledge that acting heart-throb Logan Echolls was her real dad, and today was the first day in her life she had skipped school when she wasn’t literally so sick she couldn’t leave the house. Everything was so beyond messed up, she almost couldn’t breathe through it.

“Look, Teresa-” Logan tried again, only to have his head bitten off in a second.

“You don’t get to call me that!” she told him, “My family calls me that. If you have to talk to me, you can all me T.J.”

“Fine, T.J.” He nodded once, determined not to show that she was hurting him at all, after all, none of this was her fault either. “Look, I know you’re confused right now, and you’re upset and everything,” he said carefully. “I can’t imagine what a big deal this is for you, but look at it from my side for a second. I have a daughter.” He smiled, unable to help himself. “A beautiful, smart, mostly angry daughter apparently,” he noted. “I’ve missed out on sixteen years of your life, T.J., and... and y’know I could be mad about that too.”

T.J. didn’t want to listen, she didn’t want to think about this being someone else’s fault. It was easier to blame Logan for coming back here and daring to be her father. Realistically, she knew she was being foolish. Her mother was to blame, even Leo, but not really Logan. If he’d left her and her Mom on purpose, she could blame him then, but he hadn’t even known she existed until yesterday.

“I can’t make myself like you,” she said grumpily as she faced him again, sniffing hard from all her crying. “I don’t know you, and given the things the magazines say about you, I’m not sure I want you.” She shook her head.

“You believe everything you read in those trashy things?” asked Logan with wide eyes. “Huh. Maybe I should retract ‘smart’ from your list of qualities.” He smiled then to prove he was teasing her.

T.J. couldn’t really find it funny given her mood, but Logan was pretty sure the corners of her mouth lifted a little, albeit a very tiny amount. He wasn’t the bad guy, if she were honest she knew that. Nobody in this room was a bad person. Hell, both of them even believed that Veronica and Leo did have her best interests at heart even if they did not ultimately handle the situation in the right way.

“So, what do you say, T.J.?” asked Logan then. “I know you feel like you have a dad already, and I get that, but... you think you and me can at least get to know each other a little? Maybe be friends or something?” he tried, even though the teen still looked dubious.

The fact was, T.J. really wasn’t sure how to react. Getting to know Logan Echolls seemed like an insane proposition. Even stepping back for a moment and forgetting he was apparently her biological father, he was still a movie star, and everyone in Neptune High knew his name and face. Here he was, Logan Echolls, star of stage and screen, frequenter of red carpets, sat on the edge of her bed, asking to be her friend. T.J. almost laughed at the realisation that any other teenage girl, especially her best friend Sam, would be positively swooning if they were in her shoes, though from Sam’s point of view she would be even less impressed with the father angle than T.J. was. That led to squicky thoughts T.J. was glad she didn’t have to worry about herself.

“At least it’s you and not Christian Kane.” She sighed

“Okay,” said Logan, not really sure where she was going with that until she pointed to the poster above her bed of the bare-chested TV star, some distinct lipstick marks in some places. “Ah, yeah. That’d be... awkward,” he said carefully, at which T.J. actually did have to laugh.

Logan thought it best to leave out the part where he knew the man in the poster. Now wasn’t the time. This already had to be the most crazy situation either of them had ever been in. Logan was counting being kidnapped by bikers, accused of murder, and punching an FBI agent in amongst his crazy things. T.J. herself was thinking of slightly less violent and scary stuff, but this was still right up there on her weird scale.

“I think we should go tell Mom we’re okay,” she sniffed then, climbing off the edge of the bed. “Her imagination goes into over-drive sometimes. She probably thinks I killed you by now.”

Logan didn’t answer that. Firstly, he didn’t want to think his daughter was capable of such violence, even though he was sure she could pack a punch and would just as easily as he or Veronica might. Secondly, he knew why Veronica had that vivid imagination for the worst possible things – they had lived through kidnap, rape, murder, parental abuse, and all the most horrible things a teenager could go through. In the long run, Logan had to be at least a little glad that his daughter had been raised by a man hat would see no harm came to her and always treat her right.

* * *

Leo was in a world of his own, sat the sheriff’s desk just staring unseeing at the computer screen. Keith had to call is name three times before he looked up and took notice.

“Hey, sorry, Keith,” he said quickly, sitting up straight and offering his ex-father-in-law to take the seat across from him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked with a smile that was distinctly forced.

“It’s no pleasure, Leo, believe me.” Keith sighed as he took the offered chair. “I mean, you know I never really approved of you and Veronica keeping Teresa a secret from Logan,” he explained, watching Leo’s head drop in disgrace like a naughty school boy. “That said, I think you raised her better than he probably would have, and given the circumstances, I came to check how things were with you.”

Leo looked up then with a little surprise. He thoroughly expected Keith to check on Veronica and T.J., he really didn’t expect him to come make sure he was doing okay. The fact was he really appreciated someone slightly outside of the loop to talk to, and he planned to tell the former sheriff so.

“Thanks, Keith, I really mean that,” he told him seriously. “I mean, yeah, me and Veronica made this choice and we should’ve known one day what the consequences would be but...”

“But sometimes you just go ahead anyway and hope for the best. Believe me, Leo, I know how it goes. I was lucky with Veronica, I raised her as my own and she turned out to be my daughter, but the same thing could have happened with us. I guess she told you about Jake Kane and her mom.”

Leo nodded that he knew the whole story. It was the confusion over Veronica’s own paternity that had made Keith so mad about them lying over T.J.’s father. They ought to have known better, he said, Veronica ought to realise the damage she could do, but they’d done it anyway.

“Logan was pretty mad, but that’s nothing compared to T.J.’s reaction.” Leo shook his head. “She actually seems to have forgiven me but she was so mad at Veronica and weirdly at Logan.”

“I’m guessing Logan’s anger was aimed mostly at your face,” said Keith with half a smirk as he gestured to Leo’s split lip.

The sheriff’s hand went to the gash subconsciously and he sighed.

“Yeah, we may have got into a fight,” he admitted. “Not that I’m proud of it, but I’m guessing he has a pretty good black eye this morning too.”

“I won’t say you did the right thing there either, but I’ve kind of been wanting to do that for years, so thank you,” Keith admitted with a smile he knew was unfair and wrong.

“I don’t wanna lose my daughter, Keith,” Leo said sadly then, wiping any look of satisfaction off the older man’s face. “I know we don’t share DNA or anything, and me and Veronica couldn’t make a marriage work, but T.J. is still my little girl.”

“You won’t lose her, son,” Keith assured him standing to put a hand on his shoulder. “She knows how much you love her and you raised her for sixteen years, she won’t just forget that because Mr Swanky Pants Echolls is in town.”

Leo appreciated the sentiment, and of course he recalled last night when T.J. had hugged him and told him he would always be her Daddy. Still, there was a niggling worry in the back of his mind that wouldn’t go away. He could see himself losing the family he built and tried so hard to keep together. Even though they were Logan’s to steal in a lot of ways, the thought of it made him feel sick to the stomach and always would.


	12. Chapter 12

It was a little bizarre for T.J. D’Amato to be stood here at the bottom of the stairway with her Mom to the left and Logan Echolls to the right. She could almost laugh at how dumb it felt to realise this was the very first time she had been in a room with both of her parents, despite the fact she was almost sixteen years old. She and the man who was really her dad had come down here to let her Mom know they hadn’t killed each other or anything heinous like that, but now they were all facing each other, nobody seemed to know what to say.

“Wow, just when you think a scene can’t get any more awkward,” said Logan in the silence that followed.

Veronica almost wanted to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. Ever the quick and mostly sarcastic wit, that was Logan. It was so strange how she could just close her eyes and imagine herself back in High School when he looked at her that way. The years went away, and the two of them were as they had been at eighteen. The fantasy only held so far, of course, since their teenage daughter was stood right there between them.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Veronica asked then, putting a hand to T.J.’s shoulder.

“I dunno, I guess.” She shrugged. “This is still the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me, and I... I’m not exactly psyched about it,” she admitted shakily, determined that for today at least she was done crying. “No offence, but I never asked for a new dad,” she told Logan with a look.

He was so close to opening his mouth and telling her that technically he wasn’t the new but the original, even though they hadn’t known it. The words died on his tongue when he saw Veronica physically wince. She already knew what harm she’d done, she felt it keenly, and a part of Logan had to be glad. People had to suffer for the wrong they did, and Veronica was punishing herself here better than anybody else could ever hurt her. Her guilt proved she wasn’t quite the monster her deception might have made her if she didn’t care at all.

The other part of Logan, the larger part he realised with some surprise, didn’t want to make trouble here. Dramatic overtures about his pain and loss and all he’d missed out on wasn’t going to help anybody. It was all true, but all it would achieve was making Veronica feel worse and probably alienating T.J. by default before he’d really gotten a chance to know her. That was a price he was not willing to pay for the sake of being vengeful and angry.

“I don’t suppose anybody wants me to buy them breakfast?” he offered eventually, almost finding the twin looks of ‘Are you kidding me?’ amusing. 

There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that T.J. was Veronica Jnr. Sure, there were hints of himself in there too, Logan didn’t doubt it, but these two ladies of his were peas in a pod. Anybody with eyes could see it.

“Okay, so maybe it’s lunch... or brunch?” he tried, checking his watch. “And nobody wants to go out, I get that, but I could have something brought in?” he tried next. “Something special so at least not all thoughts of me are connected to tears and tantrums?” he said, looking almost pleadingly at T.J.

She felt weird about all this, she really did. Putting aside the pain of her dad not really being her dad for a moment, having any man come into your life and be your real father would be strange. When that man was a world-famous actor of stage and screen, it was all the more surreal. He seemed real though, like a regular person, stood here offering to order her any food she wanted in the hopes she might like him just a little for his kindness. Sure, it would mean throwing money around, as rich and famous people were so good at doing, but why bother if he didn’t care at all? Besides, if her Mom had loved this guy once, there had to be some good in him, despite what the magazines and TV specials said sometimes.

“Tell you what, how about I have my assistant pick up some pastries and stuff, maybe some coffee, and bring it over?” He shrugged when neither woman answered him. “You can eat it or throw it at me, whatever you want, but it’s a start, right?”

He walked away then, pulling his cell from his pocket and T.J. turned to her mother with a sigh.

“This is the weirdest moment of my life.” she declared. “Seriously? I can’t even process this. Logan Echolls is buying us brunch, it’s... it’s just crazy!”

Veronica closed her eyes a moment and a chuckle of laughter escaped her throat. This was crazy, her daughter was perfectly right, though they both had their very different reasons for thinking so. To T.J., this was a famous guy from the TV screen suddenly in her living room being nice to her. Dad or not, that would seem wacky to anyone.

For Veronica herself, she could hardly believe she had Logan back in her life again. Yet here he was, larger than life and sarcastic as ever, seemingly calm and sensible in the face of the biggest shock he’d ever known.

Last night he had been mad and she couldn’t blame him for that, but maybe she should have realised that he tended to bounce back quicker than a lot of people. He was an actor, he could be faking, to a certain degree she was certain he was. Nobody got over that kind of shock or the kind of pain involved with missing out on a child’s life all in one night, but he was trying. He wasn’t yelling and screaming, he was just wanting to get along. Maybe he realised enough time had already been lost, no use spending what there was now making a fuss. It was almost as if he had grown up at last, and that shocked Veronica more than anything. To think that he might have actually beaten her to that goal.

* * *

“Hey, you’re Samantha Harper, right?” asked the guy leaning by the lockers.

“Do I know you, vato?” she asked, none to pleasantly as she opened up her locker door and almost smacked him in the face with it.

“I... I guess you could say I’m a friend of T.J.” He smiled as he walked around the other side of Sam and continued talking. “I just wondered if you know, is she okay?”

The blonde looked from the contents of her locker to the biker type guy stood by her. He was familiar, maybe because she’d seen him around in classes, but she had a feeling it was more than that. She shook it off a second later because it couldn’t possibly matter. She did not associate with that crowd, she really didn’t see the attraction. Girls like her loving bad boys was so cliché.

“She’s sick today, so they tell me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno, I text her a bunch of times but no reply. I’m guessing migraine, or just regular sick and her phone died.”

Antonio considered about making his own suggestion for T.J.’s absence but then thought better of it. Either Sam didn’t know about the family crisis or she wasn’t supposed to talk about it. He could gamble on the latter but if the former was true he was just spreading gossip about a girl he liked, and that wasn’t cool.

“Okay,” he nodded once. “Well, er, if you see her or talk to her, could you tell her I asked about her? I just want to know she’s okay is all,” he explained, feeling very dumb and childish suddenly, especially when Sam looked at him as if he were.

“I don’t even know who you are,” she said with some distaste as she looked him over.

Antonio bit his lip to save from saying something he really shouldn’t. This girl was a heck of a bitchy princes type for a non-09er. She had to come from the less well off part of town, but no doubt she thought because she was white and hot she had the right to look down on him. The problem was, his Mom had drummed into him that all females were to be respected, regardless of how they spoke to guy. Besides, even if he didn’t care about insulting her exactly, Antonio was pretty sure it would do him no favours with T.J. if he called her friend a stuck-up bitch the first time they met.

“Antonio Juarez,” he told her him name. “Like I said, I’m a friend of T.J.,” he explained again, fighting the urge to yell when Sam scoffed at the term he applied to himself, like she didn’t believe the two of them could even know one another. “Would you just tell her I asked after her, if you see her, please,” he emphasised through gritted teeth.

“Sure, whatever.” Sam slammed her locker door shut and turned to stride away.

She couldn’t quite make sense of what was going on here, but there was no way she was asking this Antonio guy about it. T.J. would never get away with skipping school unless she was really sick, she wouldn’t even try. Her Mom was kinda strict about her education and her dad was the Sheriff, for God sakes! Still, it wasn’t like T.J. not to call or text her BFF if she wasn’t going to be in school, and it was even more weird that she seemed to have met a guy like Antonio between leaving school yesterday and now.

Around the next corner, Sam got out her cell and hit the speed dial for her best friend. It rang and rang before clicking to voicemail.

‘This is T.J. D’Amato. Nothing fancy here - just do what you do when the beep does it’s thing.’

Sam was not thrilled that she couldn’t get through again, but left a message anyway.

“Oh my God, T.J., where the hell are you? Please tell me you’re not AWOL because of the muscled Mexican that just asked me what’s up with you? I can’t believe you haven’t called me back yet to tell me what’s going on. This is your last chance, T.J. If you don’t call or at least text before the last bell, I’m coming over to find out for myself, and you know I’m serious.”

She was just about done when the next bell sounded, and Sam was quick to stuff her cell back in her bag and get to class. One more tardy from Mr Chang and she wouldn’t be able to go to T.J.’s after school since he’d have her ass in detention. The old guy probably just wanted a piece of her, at least that was what Sam thought. Unfortunately, Sam thought that about a lot of guys, and up to now she had always been wrong!

* * *

There was going to be an awkward silence, and all three of them saw it coming. As T.J., Veronica, and Logan sat around the breakfast bar eating the food he had ordered in, everything was fine. There was the excuse of a full mouth constantly stopping them from having the speak unless it was to ask for someone to pass the juice or similar. When they were done, they would have to face the awkward situation they all existed in, and not one amongst them was looking forward to it.

T.J. was picking at things for the sake of it and was sure her Mom should have finished her coffee at least ten minutes ago - she had to be taking the smallest sips in the known world. Logan was already messing around with his I-Phone to look busy, waiting for someone else to start. The house phone ringing in the hall made everybody jump and Veronica was fast to dive off her stool to go answer it.

“Hey, Leo,” T.J. heard from her place in the kitchen and looked straight up into Logan’s eyes then.

He smiled as best he could given the circumstances. Logan really didn’t want his daughter to feel bad about loving another man as her dad. It wasn’t her fault, and the last thing he wanted to do was let her think so. When Veronica called for T.J. to come speak to Leo, she went immediately, though she did spare a moment to thank Logan for the great food. It was such a small moment, just a small smile and a simple thanks, and yet it meant so much to Logan, more than anything he ever picked up at an award show, that was for sure.

“I’m never gonna compete with that,” he said as much to himself as to Veronica when she reappeared in the doorway, “but honestly? Just so long as she can be in a room with me and not hate my guts, that’ll work.” He shrugged.

“Leo was a good father, he still is.” His ex sighed. “I’m not saying that to hurt you or to imply you won’t be-”

“I know.” Logan nodded easily. “I actually think of all the guys you could’ve let raise my daughter, well, he’s decent. Hell, I’d trust him with my life. The rest of the town does after all. Can’t really fault the guy.” He sighed, dropping his cell down on the table with a bump and leaning back as far as he dare on his stool without toppling over. “Of course, that leads me to a question I almost don’t wanna ask...”

Veronica stopped clearing away plates and things then, sitting down hard on the stool opposite. She almost didn’t want to know what the question was, but after all that had happened, she owed him enough to listen to it.

“Did you not tell me about T.J.” Logan began, leaning over the counter towards her, “because you were afraid of me turning into my father?” he asked in earnest.

“No!” Veronica replied instantly, her eyes boring into Logan’s own. “I never thought about that, not ever. Logan, I am nothing like my mother, thank God, so why would I ever think you would be like Aaron?” she asked him seriously.

Logan was grateful for small mercies. If he thought for a moment that was Veronica’s reason for keeping him out of his daughter’s life, he might just kill himself now.

“Does she know about her grandparents?” he asked then. “No, stupid Logan,” he said then, slapping himself on the forehead. “She didn’t know about her father, how would she know about the grandparents?”

“Well, she’s seen the TV specials,” Veronica considered. “I just don’t think it’s necessarily connected in her brain yet that Aaron and Lynn are... who they are.”

Logan nodded along, the two of them silent again as T.J. walked back in and looked between them.

“You were talking about me, weren’t you?” she asked seriously.

Neither could deny it, of course, since it was perfectly true. The trouble was with their darling daughter back in the room, that topic of conversation quite easily dried up, and then what was there for anyone to say? It was back to the awkward silence with nothing coming to mind to break it.


	13. Chapter 13

For the first time in a very long time, Keith Mars did not want to be at his daughter’s door. He and Veronica always had such a solid relationship. Sure, it had wobbled here and there when secrets and lies on both sides had caused minor rifts, but they were pretty close compared to many other fathers and daughters that he knew. Once they cleared up the matter of T.J.’s paternity, well, that had left a wound in his heart that he wondered if it would ever heal. He did understand Veronica’s reasons for lying, of course he did. He was hardly cheif of the Logan Echolls fan club, that was for sure, but any man that made a child, especially out of love, ought to know about that baby and be given a chance to play a part in his or her life.

On meeting his grandchild, Keith knew he could never stay out of Teresa’s life himself, and Veronica was so lost and alone, even with Leo at her side. Keith had forgiven her because he had no choice. She was his baby girl as much at age twenty as she had been the day she was born and on every day in between. They made the best of a bad situation, they avoided the topic of Teresa’s parentage whenever possible, and all went well, until they realised Logan was headed back to Neptune.

Leo had been a good father and Keith was proud of the guy for what he had done, stepping up to the mark and taking on another man’s child. He was decent and loyal, and when Veronica married him, Keith couldn’t really object to the union. In his heart of hearts, he had always doubted its lasting long and was actually pleasantly surprised when they made it until T.J. was twelve. Now Leo was not a husband and not even a pretend father since the truth came out. T.J. had a real dad and chances were good he was behind this front door at which Keith stood now, wondering whether to knock or just walk away. He hadn’t seen the necessary security for a movie star, but he hadn’t really looked. Any of the parked cars in the street behind him or around the corner could be bodyguards and such, watching out for trouble. Keith hadn’t paid enough attention to know.

He needed to check on Veronica and Teresa, make sure they were doing okay, that was the main objective, but Keith dreaded what scene would meet him beyond the door. If Logan were here, Keith didn’t know how to talk to him. In some ways, he hated the guy for all that he had done to hurt Veronica in the past. At the same time, he couldn’t blame him for being an absent father when he didn’t even know about Teresa, and in that sense Keith did have some sympathy for him. It had all been so long, so much time past and water under the bridge.

“Come on, man up, Mars!” Keith said to himself then, taking a deep breath and rapping on the door.

He waited all of a minute before it opened and his daughter was there facing him, a little tear-stained, but smiling.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he greeted her with his best forced smile. “I just thought, given the circumstances, I should come check on you and that grand-daughter of mine,” he told her.

“Come in, Dad,” she urged him, moving away to let him pass. “I appreciate it, honestly I do, but we’re... we’re not doing so bad, miraculously.” She almost laughed.

It was crazy really, that there had been minimal yelling and hurling about of things so far today. T.J. was being shockingly adult in the face of so much trauma, that one case of running to her room and blaring punk rock music til the walls shook not withstanding. She seemed to be trying to wrap her head around the situation, and speaking to Logan like a person now, not something she scraped off her shoe. Of course, today was just the first day, and there was a long way to go yet.

Veronica and Keith walked into the living room and immediately Logan hopped up from the armchair. He was pretty sure Keith was not pleased to see him. For the most part when he dated Veronica, his relationship with her dad had been forced politeness at best. Keith didn’t like him much back then, probably still didn’t now, and actually Logan did see why. Who would really want their teenage daughter dating a guy with a suicide and a murderer for parents and with a habit of getting arrested at a moments notice, not to mention for violence, cheating and screwing around? It hit him full force that if a person with his teenage rep wanted to date T.J., he would knock them into next Thursday to warn them off without a moments pause, and that was after knowing his daughter only a few hours.

“Logan Echolls,” the ex-Sheriff nodded once. “It’s been a long time.”

“Sheriff Mars,” he nodded his reply, the name coming more out of habit than anything else since he knew the title to be incorrect. “You don’t look any different from the last time I saw you, sir,” he said politely, with a smile that seemed genuine enough that Keith might almost believe it was real.

“I don’t think you’d appreciate me saying the same, Logan.” The P.I. smiled politely back at the younger man. “Nice to see you at least look like an adult now,” he noted, taking in his appearance. “Can you act like one yet?”

“Dad!” Veronica all but squeaked.

Suddenly she felt like she was no more than seventeen again, defending her boyfriends looks, image, reputation, everything that made Logan what he was, and pretty much a father’s worst nightmare to be dating his daughter. It was almost hard to believe it had been over sixteen years since these two men last faced each other, and yet nothing much had changed.

“It’s okay, Veronica.” Logan took it all in good humour. “I wasn’t exactly the responsible adult I should have been back then, I know that,” he agreed. “Maybe now, getting to know T.J., I’ll have even more respect for the way fathers view their daughters, and the people that hurt them,” he said as he gave Keith a knowing look.

Maybe it was for real, maybe the rich boy with a dual-complex of superiority and inferiority really had grown up into a decent man. Keith Mars knew better than to believe all he read in the papers and magazines, all the gossip mongers told on the TV screen. There was every chance that Logan could be a good father if he put his mind to it. He certainly couldn’t be much worse than his own had been.

“Hey, Grandpa,” said T.J. as she appeared from the stairs then.

“Hello, Teresa.” He smiled, noting she wasn’t doing the same. “How’re you holding up?” he asked as she hovered a couple of feet from him, no usual friendly hug.

“Okay, I guess.” She shrugged awkwardly, her arms around herself. “Apart from the part where my life has been a massive lie-fest, it’s all fine.”

Keith had the good grace to look a little shame-faced at that remark. Though he hadn’t known what was going on from the very beginning, he had known long enough. It was wrong of him to keep up the lie of Leo being T.J.’s dad, but by the same token, it really hadn’t been his place to wade in and tell her the truth either.

“Teresa, y’know, for my part in that, I am so sorry. I really am,” he told her honestly. “I mean, I’m not pointing fingers here, you know that I love your mother too much to deliberately hurt her, but I did say you should be told the truth from the start.”

“I know.” T.J. nodded solemnly. “Mom told me everything, the whole truth, and... and it doesn’t thrill me that you’ve all kept this stuff from me my whole life, obviously.” She sniffed, fighting another bout of crying she simply refused to give into. “But if nothing else, I have Mars blood in here,” she proclaimed, knocking a fist against her heart as she repeated words her grandpa himself had said before. “That makes me tough enough to deal with anything, right?” she said, tearful even as she forced a smile through it all.

“It really does, honey,” Keith agreed, reaching out to her, glad when she stepped into the hug he offered.

Veronica couldn’t believe she had any more tears to cry and yet they came on again at a moments notice. She did not deserve this to run in any way smoothly, for her daughter to be so grown-up and so understanding when her whole life had been turned upside down. This road was still going to be rocky, no doubt about that, but so far everyone was pretty calm and decent. It was more than Veronica ever could have hoped for from her tempestuous ex and the daughter that was way too much like her in all the most painful ways.

“Hold it together, Mars,” Logan whispered from behind her, his hand at her shoulder. “There’s a long way to go yet.”

She knew he was right, and in so many ways that it made her head spin. She and Logan were going to have to talk this thing out some more without T.J. around. He had to get to know the daughter he hadn’t seen for the first sixteen years of her life. Then there was Leo to consider and where he would fit in now the biological daddy was back in the picture. Add to that what the press reaction would be when they found out Logan Echolls had a long lost, illegitimate offspring, and Veronica could throw up right then and there from how overwhelming just the thought of it all was. Oh yeah, there was a really long way to go yet.

* * *

T.J. had just let her Grandpa Keith out of the house and returned to the living room to find Logan Echolls in deep conversation with what she presumed to be a member of his staff. Famous people had a lot of folks working for them, she guessed, assistants and bodyguards, all of that kind of thing. As if it wasn’t weird enough finding out she had another father, a real father she had known nothing of before, it was so much the stranger to realise who and what he was.

“I suppose if I ask you what it’s like to be famous, you’ll just give me the old company line,” T.J. said from the doorway the moment Logan closed up his cell. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, right?” she quoted when he turned to look her way.

“Honestly?” He shrugged. “I don’t mind it so much. You can’t argue with the money, which means I can continue living the standard of life to which I was always accustomed,” he admitted. “The people following me around gets old sometimes, but I do like to party, and I only have good sides for photographers,” he smiled, like maybe he was joking just a little but not entirely. “Fame’s been good to me, I can’t exactly rag on it.”

T.J. nodded some understanding to what he was saying. That seemed to her like a shockingly honest answer for a celebrity. Sure, he was an actor, he could be lying, but she had the feeling she would know somehow if he was. Her parents had taught her well in that kind of thing, and besides, after all that had happened, Logan would have to be pretty dumb to base their fledgling father-daughter relationship on lies.

“I’ve seen some of your movies,” she admitted. “My friend Sam is a fan so... well, I’ve seen them,” she repeated, before a look of some disgust came over her face. “Oh God, I’ve seen my father naked,” she realised with abject horror.

Logan’s own expression wasn’t too pretty either when he unscrambled that in his head. He was sure he knew what she meant, there was only one movie where he had appeared completely nude in a love scene, and even then it had only been from behind. Still, he could think of more pleasant things than knowing his fifteen year old daughter had seen that.

“Hold on a second,” he shook his head then, waving a hand around for good measure. “You and your friend saw Paradise Beach?” he checked. “How old were you then?” he asked her quite sternly - T.J. couldn’t help but think he had the father thing down pat in that moment.

“I don’t know,” she floundered. “Um, I guess, thirteen?”

It was the wrong answer, and she knew it. For one thing, she had been barely twelve and she knew it as well as she knew anything. The fact of the matter was, the DVD had been R-rated and she never should have been watching it. Sam had snuck it into her room from her mother’s collection and they watched it one night for a sleepover treat. T.J. had been completely unmoved by the whole thing, whilst Sam had practically melted into a puddle of goo over the wonder of Logan Echolls, even at that young age. Now it seemed squicky in the extreme to T.J., and apparently completely wrong to her biological dad, whether he was in the movie or not!

“Hey,” Veronica returned from her room a moment later, better dressed and cleaned up.

She stopped short of saying anything more as she looked between T.J. by the door and Logan sat on the couch with his hands curling into fists, wondering what on Earth had happened. She ought to have realised the calm and almost jovial atmosphere wasn’t going to last for long, and apparently they’d just hit one of those bumps in the road that had to come eventually.

“What’s going on?” she asked both her daughter and her ex.

“Veronica,” her name had icicles hanging from it when Logan said it then. “Did you let our daughter watch R-rated movies when she was thirteen years old?”

“Well, a couple, yeah,” she admitted, “but only if I’d seen them myself and... and there is way more to this than I’m getting, isn’t there?”

She didn’t know, she couldn’t have. Logan would have realised sooner if he wasn’t so worked up. Maybe it got to him because he was realising that his baby girl had seen him in a light he would never want her to bear witness to. Maybe it was some dormant fatherly thing that became uncontrollable when you actually had offspring. Perhaps above all this, Logan just didn’t want T.J. to turn out like so many slutty girls he had known in his life.

The fact was, there was no way Veronica would have let their daughter watch that kind of movie, especially not that one, when the romantic lead was himself. It could have made things so much more awkward than they already were if T.J. had developed even a passing crush on the celebrity that was in fact her father! Besides, Logan had to believe his ex had better parenting skills than that in the first place.

T.J. looked across at Logan and met his eyes then, panic and regret written clearly within her own. She wised she hadn’t brought this up and begged him wordlessly not to tell her mother what she had done. It was a teenage indiscretion, and he couldn’t have her punished for that. God, all the things Logan had done by the time he was her age and after, it was likely he made Teresa Jane look like a complete angel, even if she was a little too much like himself or even Veronica now and then.

“Logan, what’s going on?” asked the blonde herself then, hands on her hips as she grew impatient.

“Nothing.” He shook his head suddenly, painting on a smile. “Nothing. Just a misunderstanding,” he told her.

That made no sense to Veronica, but then there had been many times when things Logan Echolls said really didn’t. She let it go, partly because she was relieved to see both him and T.J. smiling now, and partly because there was a knock at the door she had to go answer.

“Thank you,” Teresa mouthed across at her father.

“No problem, kid.” He winked as he sat down on the couch. “Even I was young once, but hey, you know that, you’ve seen all the movies,” he teased her, finding it almost amusing and cute when she blushed.

She was a good girl, after just twenty four hours of knowing her, Logan was pretty sure on that. Veronica and Leo, in spite of their secrets and lies, had raised the girl right. She was well-adjusted enough not to be throwing dishes and screaming all the live long day, so that made her one up on a teenage Logan. For that if nothing else he was eternally grateful.

“Sam,” Veronica greeted the person beyond the front door and immediately T.J.’s eyes were wide as saucers.

It all happened so fast in that moment, the blonde teen pushing her way into the house and confronting T.J. The same girl spotting Logan on the couch and going literally weak at the knees. Sam passing out unceremoniously on the living room rug with a dull thud. Veronica cursing her ex for being a damn heart-throb actor.

For Sam it was all too much. Of all people that she could have expected to be visiting at the D’Amato house, Logan Echolls was the very last, and yet she had never been so happy to see a person in her life. Unfortunately, shock was stronger than happiness and she passed out within a second. When she came to, she honestly wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that she was no longer seeing the movie stars face.

“Was he real?” she murmured as her eyes flickered open and she realised she was now lying on the very couch she thought she saw Logan sat on.

“Yeah, he’s real,” said T.J. as she helped her friend sit up and drink the water Veronica had swiftly fetched. “Are you okay?”

“No, you bitch!” Sam reacted suddenly and violently, almost throwing the contents of her glass over her shocked friend. “You know how I feel about Logan Echolls, how could you have him in your house and not tell me?!” she demanded to know.

“I’m not trying to take him from you, Sam!” T.J. insisted as Veronica stepped back and let the girls do this their own way. “I never liked Logan Echolls, you know that, and right now I was never more glad about that.”

“T.J., I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” her friend argued, putting a hand to her head that spun the moment she tried to sit up straight. “He’s here, you just admitted that. Why the hell would Logan Echolls be in your house if you’re not trying to-?”

“Because he’s my father!” she yelled over the top if her BFF’s insane rambling, and before she had a chance to suggest something that would be disgusting in the extreme. “Sam, Logan Echolls... he’s my biological father,” she repeated, feeling so weird about just saying it, but it was truth and of all people, Sam had to know it.

“He’s your... but I...” there was no way for poor Samantha to form words after that, and when she looked up and realised Logan was still there, nodding his agreement with what T.J. had just said, the world grew hazy again, and she was out cold a second time within a moment.


	14. Chapter 14

Another regular school day, that was T.J.’s first thought as she opened her eyes to the morning light, and yet she knew how very wrong those words really were. She wondered if she was destined to ever have a normal day the whole of her life since the shocking revelation two days ago that she was the biological daughter of Logan Echolls. She hated it at first, a part of her still hated it now, and yet she already felt as if she were coming to terms with the fact of it. Maybe it was all the crazy things she heard about other people’s families that helped. Maybe it would have been harder if her parents, Veronica and Leo, were still together and happy. Perhaps T.J. would have felt worse if she had been abandoned by her so-called father on purpose, or was wholly adopted. As things stood, she still had her Mom and Dad to turn to, she just had an extra dad as well.

For all the things she had heard about Logan Echolls, movie superstar, in reality he seemed weirdly normal. He had a sarcastic wit that she had to laugh at, she just couldn’t help herself. Chiefly she presumed she got that sense of humour from him as much as her mother, and it was as comforting as it was odd to realise it. He talked to her like a person, not like a kid, and he seemed eager to be her friend or something. So far there had been no talk of lavish gifts or exciting trips, which actually made T.J. happier than if he had wanted to buy her affections. She knew money didn’t buy happiness or love, and she didn’t want anyone to presume for a moment she could be won over that way.

T.J. sighed as she got out of bed, knowing her Mom would be yelling for her soon if she didn’t get her butt in gear. Honestly, she would like today to be as normal as Veronica would, even though it seemed unlikely to happen. It was no use pretending things hadn’t changed, even between mother and daughter. T.J. had been lied to, for all her almost-sixteen years, and as much as she could forgive her Mom, she couldn’t forget. She understood Veronica’s reasons, as well as the reasons of those around her for keeping a secret for her own good. The problem was, it didn’t change the fact her life had been a big lie in a lot of ways.

Trudging along to the bathroom, the teenager looked at her reflection in the mirror and wondered at her own looks. Mostly, she looked like her Mom, she knew that, but she wondered if anybody ever saw flashes of Logan Echolls in her. Certain expressions might show her as being his daughter, and yet the thought never would have occurred to her until she found out the truth.

“So much for today being normal,” she muttered to herself, trying to concentrate on what she was doing.

T.J. hadn’t been sure if her Mom would want her to go to school today or stay home. She might have known she would say her education was too important for much time to be wasted. One day was all that was allowed, even after the potential trauma of an identity crisis. T.J. didn’t mind. The normality of a school day would be a nice distraction. The only real problem was Sam.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t keep a secret. T.J. would hardly trust her as a best friend if she were that bad, but the nature of this secret suggested it would be much more complicated for Sam to keep a lid on. She idolised Logan Echolls and had done for years. Mrs Harper, her mother, was a your standard-issue fan, but Sam was hard-core in her loving of the movie star. it didn’t seem to squick her at all that it meant she was now in love with her BFF’s father. Honestly, she was just falling all over herself to get an autograph, a hug, a lock of his hair, whatever. T.J. had been mortified, but Logan had handled it pretty well considering. Of course, the fact it was Logan himself that had helped get Sam to swear to keep his fathering T.J. a secret ought to have some pull, but she was bound to be bouncing like Tigger on a sugar high all day over just meeting the guy. That was what T.J. dreaded most.

The fact was, it wasn’t just that it was easier for T.J. to have her father’s identify kept a secret for now, there was a security issue involved, as well as a scandal in the press. The whole world watched Logan Echolls, moviestar. The paparazzi were at every turn, and it would be a complete meltdown across the papers, TV, and everywhere if this news got out. T.J. wasn’t ready for that. Veronica wasn’t ready for that. Even Logan had admitted he would be quite happy to keep his daughter under wraps, only for her own sake.

Wandering down the stairs, freshly washed and dressed for school, T.J. found her Mom in the kitchen making breakfast.

“Pancakes? On a Thursday?” she checked with a frown. “This is strictly a weekend or special occasion type of a thing.”

“I happen to think this is a special occasion,” said Veronica as she flipped another pancake from the skillet to the stack that was already quite high enough. “Honestly, the fact you’re still talking to me makes it special,” she admitted with a smile. “And you have been such an adult about all this, T.J., I really... I can’t tell you how proud I am of you, and how horrible I feel about myself.”

T.J. smiled sadly as she saw her Mom get teary-eyed again. She went right around the counter to give her a hug, but she couldn’t say anything, with the emotion thick in her throat and no suitable words coming to mind anyway. She had already told her mother so many times that she forgave her, repeating it wouldn’t really help. Veronica had to forgive herself, she knew that as well as T.J. did, but it was going to take a while. The burden of her guilty secret had been too great to lift in just a couple of days.

Mother and daughter sat down to eat then and tried to behave in some kind of normal way. Veronica got talking about things at work she would need to deal with today, and T.J. tried to think what she might have missed in class yesterday. She was sure Sam and her other friends would be able to set her up with some notes or whatever. The teachers thought she was sick, so she would have to remember to look at least a little out of it for appearances sake. T.J. was sure it’d be fine. After all, it turned out acting was in her blood.

It made T.J. feel a little bad when she so easily slotted Logan in as her father like that. Leo still meant the world to her, and she was determined that wouldn’t change. Sure, he lied, just like Veronica had, but they both had their reasons. The man T.J. called Daddy had been there her whole life, from late night feeds and diaper changing, to driving lessons and her first real date. There was no way in hell she was letting him just fall out of her life as if he were nothing. DNA aside, he was still her dad, and she was still called T.J. D’Amato - that counted for something with her.

“You okay, honey?” Veronica checked, knowing this was tough on her and that T.J. was never usually so very quiet.

“Sure, yeah.” She forced a smile. “I mean, as well as anybody could be after... all of that,” she waved her hand in a vague gesture. “The freaky part is that I’m actually looking forward to school today. A little normality, y’know?”

“I know.” Her mother nodded in agreement. “It’ll be good for you to spend time with your dad... with Leo tonight,” she said awkwardly and T.J. physically winced.

“It’d be cool if you could just keep on calling him Dad for now,” she requested. “I know the truth and everything, but he’s always been Dad, I can’t... I can’t see it any other way right now, not really.”

Veronica nodded once more before getting up to clear away the breakfast things. T.J. pushed some loose hair back off her face and fixed her ponytail. Everything was just so awkward but she was set on her view of the two men in her life that would be her father. Leo had been the man she called Dad for almost sixteen years, she didn’t want to change that yet, if ever; she just wasn’t ready for it.

As for Logan, well, he seemed nice enough but he needed some space and thinking time as much as T.J. did, they had agreed on that. The man had just moved back, he had a big house to set straight, contacts to meet, and some big interview coming up. Plus there was the huge adjustment to the fact that he had a daughter now. It had to be almost as weird for him as it was for T.J. and in that sense at least she felt a little sorry for him. That didn’t mean she could suddenly love him like a father and call him Daddy. That position still belonged to Leo, and T.J. wondered if she could ever truly make room for another man in that role in her life. It seemed that somewhere along the line they would have to find out.

* * *

Logan woke to find the sun streaming in his windows and the clock declaring it was eight fifteen. He was actually surprised he’d gotten any sleep with so much stuff running around inside his head, but then after little to no rest the past two nights, he guessed his body and brain had both just given out at this point. Whether or not he felt better for the rest, Logan couldn’t be sure. The first and only thing on his mind right now was the ready-made family he had stumbled upon in the past couple of days.

Teresa Jane. She looked like Veronica and sounded like him, he had already noticed it. It was going to take some getting used to for Logan to fully accept he had a daughter of almost sixteen in the world, that was for sure. Possibly the only person whose life had been thrown into more turmoil than his was T.J. herself.

For Logan, well, he was lonely much of the time, and Veronica had always been the love of his life. To hand him a ready-made excuse to spend time with that woman and a daughter to dote on, it was all to the good as far as he could tell. Sure, it was a shock, and he could still be mad about missing out on his child growing up, but Veronica and T.J. in his life had to be a positive. For the girl herself, she already had a good family life. Divorced parents was pretty much normal these days, but her folks got along and she loved both of them still. She was a pretty well-adjusted teen for having been raised between a P.I. and the Sheriff of Neptune. At least, from what Logan had seen, she seemed to be. T.J. was probably better off being raised that way rather than as the daughter of a movie star. There were definite downsides to Logan’s world, especially for those closely associated with him.

Even if T.J. could adjust to the fact that Logan was her father, he wondered if she would ever want to handle his fame and fortune. She was so much like Veronica, and whilst the former Miss Mars had never exactly been the shy and retiring type, having her face splashed on magazine covers, in paparazzi photos, it never would have suited her. Talk about a way to ruin a good undercover career, and besides, she just wasn’t that girl.

A large part of Logan’s love and respect for Veronica was borne out of the fact that she didn’t bow down to him because of his fortune and all. She loved him for him, she wasn’t afraid of offending him or not being the perfect perky little girlfriend that everyone expected. Had they stayed together when he became famous, Logan knew it would be much tougher keeping Veronica out of trouble than himself. She wouldn’t take analysis of every move she made very well. She’d never want to be seen as a gold digger, and as much as anyone who knew them would never accuse her of such a thing, the press always would.

There were so many reasons why Logan was better off being alone whilst he enjoyed his career. Veronica wouldn’t have fitted into it and a baby certainly wouldn’t. Of course, faced with the decision to choose between an acting career and a young family, Logan would have chosen the latter over the former like a shot. It hurt that Veronica didn’t realise that, but then they were talking about a time over sixteen years ago, before either of them had really got done with growing up. Whether or not he would have made the same decision then, well, Logan would like to think he would. The truth might be a very different matter.

Logan sighed and got up out of bed. Checking the clock he realised T.J. was probably in school now. Good old Neptune High. He had asked her how she liked it and her answer was vague enough. Teenagers weren’t supposed to like school, it was not cool to do so, and yet she hadn’t reacted so very badly to the question as to make him worry. The things he and Veronica went through in that place, that they put each other through. Logan wouldn’t wish that on anybody, let alone his own daughter.

It was still weird to think about her that way, to think how different things might have been if he had stayed, or just if he had returned home sooner. Maybe if his acting career hadn’t taken off or if he gave it up before now. T.J. might have still been a baby or even a little girl, a perfect little picture of Veronica but with Daddy’s eyes and smile. It was nice and painful all at the same time to think about it. There had to be pictures, in fact Veronica had said she would find some to give him soon for which Logan was grateful.

Of course any relationship between him and T.J., that had to be started by the girl herself. Logan would love to go ploughing in there, yelling about his rights and all, but that wouldn’t do any good. He had to wait for her to come to him. He gave her his address, all his numbers, promising that whenever she wanted to talk or visit, he was there.

Out of T.J.’s earshot, Veronica had started asking about security details. She was highly aware of the way the press worked, and worse the paparazzi. She didn’t want her baby girl exposed to that, and neither did Logan, as he had swiftly assured her. When he was visiting at the D’Amato house, there had been bodyguards across the street, an armoured car to take him home. The same was true at his own home, and the press were kept away unless told they were welcome. All would be fine, he would see to it, and Logan was pleased enough to realise that Veronica did trust him that far.

Of course, the press only kept their distance when asked because Logan could always be relied upon to call them when he had news he wanted to share. His daughter was not part of that news right now. T.J. herself had said she had no wish to be famous. Thanks to that, and out of respect for Leo, she wanted a lid kept on this whole situation for now. It hurt Logan to be pushed away like that after all this time, but he did understand. For now, he would act as normal as he could, and when the ‘Welcome back to Neptune’ press conference came around, he would not mention T.J. That might well have to come out later, but not in the next week or two that was for sure.

Logan had to think about something, he had to keep his mind engaged or he was going to go crazy. His assistant, Amy, had the house under control, and he had no appointments for the next week because he’d made sure of it. Maybe it was time he caught up with some other people he knew in town.

Dick Casablancas seemed like a good place to start. That guy never let Logan down when he needed someone just to kick back with and talk about inane topics that’d clear his head. Besides, it would be interesting to see how his air-headed surfer friend was coping with adult life now he had gotten there. Logan almost dare not imagine how his old BFF would have turned out, but today, he would find out.


	15. Chapter 15

Veronica sent her daughter off to school with a smile that failed just as soon as T.J. was out of sight. She had meant what she said before, about today being a special occasion, about being so happy and grateful that those she had hurt took her betrayal so well. She knew things could be that much worse with both T.J. and Logan, and Veronica was so glad that they had found a way to be civil, both with each other and with her. Still, she could not be truly happy when she looked into the future and saw the uphill struggles they would yet have to face.

It would be tough enough for Veronica to have to reveal any other father to her baby girl, to tell her that her whole life had been built on a lie. The fact Logan was a movie star made it that much harder to deal. The man was in the public eye all the time. There was hardly a month went by without him being on a magazine cover, in a TV special, or making some announced appearance that all the girls screamed over. Veronica had to spend sixteen years biting her lip, flipping channels, trying to act like Logan barely existed or meant nothing to her. Now he was back, and he and T.J both knew the truth. It was better and worse all at once, and Veronica wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about any of it.

Shaking herself out of a daze, the P.I. collected up her things and headed out of the front door to the office. She had work to do, it certainly wouldn’t do itself, and she had already spent too much time distracted from it. Her clients had lives too, families and problems that she was supposed to be helping with. Regardless of Logan’s return or T.J.’s trauma, there were bills to pay and things to do. The world never stopped turning.

Veronica slipped into her car and slammed the door shut behind her. Glancing in the rear-view she spotted a parked car and flinched. No, it wasn’t somebody watching her, it was entirely empty, and she cursed herself for being so paranoid. Logan had been definite about nobody but his own security knowing where he spent the day yesterday. Nobody knew about T.J. and they never would, at least not until she was ready. Veronica was grateful to recall how decent Logan could be and to see such evidence of it. The last thing any of them needed was a media circus, with T.J. right in the centre of the action.

There were plenty of girls who would have fallen over themselves for such attention, Veronica knew. Her old BFF Lilly for one, and T.J.’s own bestie Sam for another. As it was, Teresa Jane just wasn’t that girl. She was happy to be anonymous in a lot of ways, just keep her head down and live her simple life, at least for the time being. Logan had promised her so faithfully that she would stay under wraps just as long as she wanted, it had made Veronica tear up then, and again now as she thought on it. “Pull it together, Mars,” she snapped at herself, wiping her eyes with both hands.

She concentrated on putting the car in gear then and getting off the driveway. She had to go to work and think of something else for a few hours, she knew that, and yet her mind wouldn’t shift on the journey in. Veronica was stuck on a loop of scenes from yesterday, key moments in the meeting of father and daughter. By the time Logan left that evening, he and T.J. actually smiled and waved goodbye like friends, and it warmed Veronica’s heart to see it. At the same time, she remembered the hurt that crossed her ex-boyfriend’s face when T.J. had made everyone swear to keep her secret from the press.

Logan understood, of course he did. Having grown up in the spotlight himself, he could fully understand why T.J. would want to avoid it. It was for her sake, but also for Veronica’s own and Leo’s sake too. The scandal would be monumental, and not something anybody wanted to handle yet, if ever. Still, it had hurt him. On some level, he must have felt like T.J. didn’t want to be associated with him, even though in reality that wasn’t how it was meant to come out. Veronica almost wanted to tell him, but his fake smile reappeared so fast as he assured their daughter everything was fine, she didn’t dare. He held it together, he made Teresa Jane that much more important than his own pain.

Veronica swallowed hard, wiping one blurry eye as the traffic lights turned green and she made the final turn up to the Mars Investigations offices. Maybe Logan would have been a good father if she had just given him the chance. At least now he would get the opportunity to try, and there were no more surprises to pop up and ruin anything else.

* * *

Logan Echolls didn’t have far to drive to get from his home to the Casablancas place. He opted to take his own car with the security tailing behind, as always. He had spoken to Dick infrequently over the past fifteen years or so, but they always kept in touch, even if it was just through random emails or whatever. He wondered why his friend, who had always kept Neptune as his base, never did mention Veronica and Leo, or baby Teresa Jane as she would have been in the beginning. Maybe he would ask, maybe he wouldn’t. Probably safer not to, Logan considered, for fear he might say something he really shouldn’t. Not that Dick was all that bright, he probably wouldn’t pick up on subtle hints, but Logan wouldn’t risk it, for T.J.’s sake if nothing else.

There had been pictures posted where Logan stumbled upon them, in business journals and occasionally gossip sites when Dick ‘befriended’ a beautiful young starlet. His playboy ways hadn’t left him, at least not as far as Logan could tell. Not so very long ago, maybe just a year or so, there had been a buzz about a young actress and his old friend getting close. Logan didn’t disbelieve it, until he ended up making a film with said actress who hotly denied the rumours. She and Dick had been on precisely two dates before she dumped the guy. Logan had sent a message via the internet, offering his old buddy condolences. As far as he recalled, he hadn’t replied that time.

They spoke on the phone a couple of months before Logan’s return to Neptune, kind of a courtesy call to let his friend know he was returning. Dick had sounded just as Logan remembered, all ‘dude’ and ‘awesome’ like a real stereotypical surfer should be. Of course, these days he had to spend more time in the board room than on a surf board, running the Casablancas empire. God only knew how he had enough brains to run such a successful set of businesses. Logan figured he was just good at hiring smart people.

Pulling up to the gates, he buzzed to be let in. The security guard recognised him, and the gates slowly opened, no problems at all. Swinging into park on the gravel driveway outside the front door, Logan was a little bemused when Dick didn’t come running out of the front door to greet him. That was the kind of exuberance he remembered and therefore expected from his friend, perhaps forgetting in that moment that everybody, even Dick, had to have grown up by now.

Logan hopped out of the car and pulled off his shades as he looked up at the house. It really didn’t look any different to when they were kids and he came over all the time to play video games and chill out with an illegal beer or twelve. He smiled at those memories as he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. A butler-type answered it with a fake smile.

“Mr Echolls,” he greeted him with a nod. “If you would like to come through to the living room, Mr Casablancas will be with you in due course.”

Logan thanked the guy, resisting the urge to call him Jeeves, as he stepped into the house. They passed by the stairs into the living room the butler spoke of, a commotion evident upstairs. Logan smiled as he realised what was probably happening. Dick had a woman here, and he was either explaining to her that as great as she was, he was strictly a ‘one show only’ performance kind of guy, or she was a more long term partner (no more than six months if he knew Dick) and the sweet goodbyes were taking longer than expected.

“Mr Allen?” called a female voice from the door. “Excuse me, sir, but there’s a situation with a delivery driver at the rear entrance,” the young woman apologised, looking red-faced and awkward in the face of polite company.

The butler excused himself then, pretty much telling Logan to stay put unless advised otherwise. He clearly didn’t realise that the guest still rarely if ever did just exactly what he was told.

Up from his seat in a second, Logan took in the room that was familiar and not at the same time. A lot of the furniture had been here before, he reckoned, or at least similar stuff. The pictures on the walls were different, as they had been in the hall, but that was to be expected.

Venturing back out into the corridor, he took advantage of the fact it was empty and did a little exploring. Veronica would be proud, that thought did occur to Logan, as he played the nosy neighbour better than even his ex might. Hidden ‘reading’ material proved Dick was still a confirmed bachelor, as did some of the less-hidden pictures on the walls. Expensive trinkets, vases, and such were probably just investments since they hardly seemed like Dick’s taste. Poking his head into the library, he was stunned to realise there were actually books in there and some even looked read.

“Babe, it’s so not a big deal!”

The yell went up from the stairs and Logan turned to crane his neck and see who was there. It was Dick’s voice he heard, but a woman he expected to see as heeled shoes made a familiar click-clack on the wooden steps.

“The fact that you’re even saying that proves that it is a big deal. Do you even know me at all?” a female voice answered, and Logan frowned some as he realised it was oddly familiar.

Strolling out from his hiding place as if it were completely fine he was there, Logan had to make a particular effort not to let his mouth drop open with shock when he saw who was hastily (and wrongly) buttoning one of Dick’s shirts over a little black dress as she descended the stairs.

“Of all the rich guy’s houses in all of Neptune,” he said with the appropriate drawl. “Cindy Mackenzie, I did not expect to find you here.”

* * *

T.J. felt like everyone was looking at her, which was insane because they really weren’t. Nobody knew about her father being Logan Echolls, nobody except Sam of course, and she wasn’t saying anything. Sworn to secrecy by T.J. might have been enough anyway, it should have been, but with that backed up by the movie star heart-throb himself, Logan Echolls, there was no way Samantha Harper was breaking that promise. Unfortunately, nothing could shift the ridiculous grin off her face, or talking about ‘Mr X’ whenever she got the chance. T.J. was getting really tired of it on what was supposed to be her relatively normal day back at school.

The bell rang for lunch and T.J. hurried from her class towards the quad. She and Sam had different classes so she was without her and honestly she hoped to stay that way just for a little while. She loved her BFF, of course she did, but she really needed a break from talk of her biological father just for a few minutes. Sam would go to find T.J. outside her class which was what they usually did, and when she couldn’t find her she would try the nearest bathroom, the cafeteria, all those kinds of places before she ever ventured outside. T.J. just needed to breathe for a minute, that was all, before she faced Sam and her bouncing around over Logan again.

“Is this seat taken?” asked a voice as a shadow fell over T.J.

She moved her hands from where they had been propping her head up and peered up into familiar brown eyes.

“Hey.” She smiled genuinely, moving her bag off the bench so Antonio could use the seat that was decidedly not taken.

“Hey yourself,” he responded as he straddled the bench beside her. “So, your friend said you were sick yesterday, but I’m guessing it had more to do with…”

“Yeah, kinda,” she cut him off before he had chance to say more, looking around at all the other teens milling about as if she expected them all to magically know her business.

That was the way things usually worked in Neptune High, so honestly, she wouldn’t be surprised. Still, the last thing anyone would expect would be for mousey little Teresa Jane D’Amato to be the biological daughter of a movie star. The very thought of the 09ers reaction to such news made her laugh out loud. Antonio looked amused by her sudden fit of giggles and she apologised immediately she noticed it.

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking... It’s too weird,” she told him, waving away the moments madness.

“Honestly? I’m just glad to see you happy,” he told her kindly. “You’re much prettier when you smile.”

T.J. felt her cheeks heat up fast at the unexpected compliment. Antonio was a nice guy, he proved that the other night when she really needed someone. He was also one of the hottest guys she had ever laid eyes on, and despite all the drama in her life right now, she was still female and had feelings.

“I, er... I wanted to thank you again for before,” she said, hardly looking at the young man beside her. “You really helped me out when I needed a friend.”

“That’s cool.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I mean, I could use a friend myself,” he told her with a look that said he had more than just friends on his mind, or maybe T.J. was just wishful thinking.

“Y’know, I’m not... Right now is just...” she rambled some, maybe because he was potentially asking her out, maybe just because she was in the most complicated mess of a situation she ever faced in her life before.

Apparently it didn’t matter to Antonio anyway.

“Hey, I’m not askin’ for nothin’,” he assured her then, hands raised in some kind of surrender. “I’m just saying, we’re friends now, right?”

T.J. turned smiling eyes to meet his and nodded her head.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” she agreed whole-heartedly.

“Seriously?” Sam’s voice cut through the sweet moment like a hot knife through butter. “Seriously? This guy is really a friend of yours? I thought he was like on drugs and crazy when he told me that,” she huffed, sitting down on the other end of the bench next to T.J. with a thud.

“Y’know, you’re a real charmer, Miss Harper,” said Antonio with a wry smile. “Can’t imagine why you’re not surrounded by friends yourself,” he told her, before walking away, sparing a moment to wave to T.J. as he went.

“Please, Teej, tell me you’re not crushing on that muscle-bound biker?” she huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

“Like I have time to think about dating right now,” her friend replied, and yet there was a smile playing around her lips that she couldn’t quite control.

She was more surprised by that than anyone.


	16. Chapter 16

“Dude! It has been way too long since you were back here,” said Dick for maybe the eighth time today.

He and Logan had spent all day just hanging out, catching up with each other. They made it just past lunch before they broke out the beers and the stories had begun to get a little more lurid. Of course, before the past got touched upon too much, Logan wanted to know about the present. Finding Dick with a semi-naked woman running out of his room? That was to be expected, no matter how many years had sailed by. That woman being geek-to-the-core Cindy ‘Mac’ Mackenzie, well that had been a shock even Logan Echolls hadn’t been ready for.

The poor woman had been mortified at being caught, by an old friend / movie star of all people. Maybe she really was in a hurry to leave for a meeting or work or whatever she muttered about, but Logan suspected her exit stage left would have been as fast as ever even without a place to be. Embarrassed to the point of tomato red, she had left in a flurry of hastily put on clothes and apologies for running out when he just came in. She made a vague promise about catching up with him later, and then she was gone, leaving Dick to explain what the hell just happened.

Logan wasn’t sure what to make of it all when Dick tried to laugh off the liaison as no big deal. The trouble was, Logan wasn’t buying. Even after seventeen years away, he was pretty sure Mac wouldn’t have turned into some uber-slut who just threw herself at any rich guy that asked. Dick Casablancas of all people seemed like an unlikely candidate, given her history with the guy’s brother. Still, she had been here and something way more than a conversation had taken place last night. Logan’s first question had to be, was this the first time?

“Well, that’s kinda complicated,” Dick had told him awkwardly. “See, ‘cause me and Mac, we’ve been like friends or whatever for a while now. After you split and Ronnie got all loved up with the deputy, then that guy Wallace left too... I don’t know, we were the only ones left.”

“Okay.” Logan nodded, letting the comments about Veronica slide by now. “I’m hoping that by now, Dick, you realise that ‘friends’ don’t have sex with each other, at least, not if you’re a regular person.”

“Dude, I have never been a regular person,” his friend had told him definitely. “But me and Mac with the doing it? That’s been... uh, I don’t know, I guess, a couple of months maybe.”

Logan wished he knew how exactly that had happened, what had really changed. It seemed Dick wasn’t quite willing to tell him, maybe because it involved actual human emotions. The only time he had ever really seen those in Dick was when he was so broken over the loss death of Cassidy or the jailing of his father. Love was never spoken of when it came to Dick and the many women he slept with. Stupid Logan to think that would’ve changed, or that Dick would admit to it even if it had.

They changed the subject and moved on to telling other tales, stories of business success and acting awards. Logan was comfortable enough giving Dick the tell all scoop on his fellow celebrities, especially those he had got up close an personal with, be it on movies or for real. None of it meant anything anyway, and it was just a guy thing to crow over conquests and compare notes on chicks.

Six beers in was when Dick started to get a little loose-lipped on the topic of Cindy Mackenzie. It was a tell-tale sign to Logan that after a long trail of girls that he wanted to talk about, Dick suddenly got very quiet. All the chicks he’d been so proud of taking to his bed, they were years ago, more than twelve months every single time, Logan noticed. Seemed to him things might have been getting serious with Mac way longer than just the couple of months he’d said before. Maybe she hadn’t fallen into bed with him too easily, but something had been brewing.

“I don’t know what it is, man,” he said thoughtfully, lying spread out over one of two couches, staring up at the ceiling. “I mean, we needed a new I.T. chick, or dude, whatever, but who wants another guy in the office when they can have a hot babe, am I right?”

“Makes sense to me,” said Logan with a smile, as he reached over from his seat to clink beer bottles with his friend.

“So, I totally poached Mac from Kane, ‘cause I knew she was wicked-awesome at what she does, and her new supervisor guy was making her life pretty much hell,” he explained. “Usually I’m all, like, not gonna bang the help because it’s uncool and makes all these legal problems and crap later on, but Mac was... She’s just different, man. She’s always been different.”

“I guess she has,” Logan agreed, knowing that he and the nerd had always treated each other a little differently, especially after Cassidy died.

They had an understanding that nobody else did. They had both loved and hated the boy they called Beaver, and in equal measure too. In some ways, Logan was a little surprised it had taken this long for the couple to get it together.

“I don’t know, it’s, like, one minute she’s showing me how to do this cool chart thing for a presentation and the next...” he trailed off. “You ever been in love, Logan?” he asked then, all out of blue. “I mean, like, for real?”

It might have surprised Logan to realise that Dick wasn’t considering Veronica as the love of his life. The way things had been with them, it ought to have been obvious, but then Dick didn’t always pick up on stuff like that, even when it should be crystal clear. Since her there had been no-one that came close to meaning anything to Logan, and he was pretty sure that wouldn’t ever change.

“You think you’re in love with Mac?” he checked instead.

Dick sat up at that remark, ashen faced and practically shaking. Fear of commitment existed in most men. For Dick it was practically crippling apparently.

“I’m a douchebag.” He sighed, running a hand over his face. “I mean, I can’t be good enough for Mac, I know that, but... I kinda wanna try to be, and I almost think it’s working.”

“It has to be working on some level, Dick,” his buddy assured him putting a hand to his shoulder. “As far as I remember, she is not the type to jump into bed with just any guy.”

He got up then to go look for more beer and found the cooler empty. Immediately Dick rang the kitchen and ordered up some more. Just as soon as he’d put down the phone, he started talking to Logan again.

“You never got over Mars, did ya?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Maybe he wasn’t quite as oblivious as Logan let himself believe. Maybe he was smarter than anyone could have guessed, deliberately not bringing Veronica up at first, waiting to see if Logan would. When he evaded the question about his love life, his friend knew the truth by default.

“It’s a bitch that she hooked up with the Sheriff,” Dick continued when his friend stayed silent. “I mean, I get it. You were gone, she needed a shoulder, and the guy seems decent enough. I guess when the baby came along, he married her ‘cause he’s all stand up guy type...”

Logan stopped listening around about there. He couldn’t bear to hear Dick’s opinion on the topic of his daughter being raised by the local law man. There was no way even in his semi-drunk state Logan was dumb enough to spill a secret that huge to Dick. Sure, he trusted the guy to keep it, but Dick was a sloppy drunk and falling in love all too easily with Mac. She probably knew the truth already, being Veronica’s best girlfriend and all, but he didn’t know that for sure. They had to keep a lid on this thing for now. Logan would not be the one to screw up, not with T.J. or with Veronica, not this time, it was just too important.

* * *

T.J. hated that she felt so weird about going into the Sheriff’s station after school. She had met her dad there a hundred times before to go out to dinner or over to his house to hang out, and she always looked forward to it. Today was different. Today was the first day she had come to see Leo D’Amato knowing that he was not in fact her father, at least not biologically.

It was weird that everything looked just the same. Since nobody knew the truth here except for her and the Sheriff himself, it was hardly surprising, and yet it felt wrong. Nothing felt normal in T.J.’s life right now, and yet the world kept on turning, just the same as yesterday.

“Hey, kiddo,” the man behind the desk greeted her with the wink.

“Hi, Stokes.” She smiled back amiably at one of many deputies she knew so well. “Is my dad almost ready?”

“Just finishing up a call with the mayor,” he told her. “You know how that woman can talk.” He rolled his eyes, miming a chattering mouth with his hand.

T.J. laughed at the joke, because she couldn’t help it. Stokes had to be the wackiest guy she ever met, and was almost never serious. She wondered how he ever got a badge and gun assigned to him, how anyone ever took him seriously at the scene of a crime.

The laughter disappeared almost instantly when Leo appeared from his office, wearing a smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Hey Dad,” T.J. greeted him just a she always had, walking over to hug him and kiss his cheek.

“Hello, Teresa,” he replied, holding her tight for an extra few seconds.

By the time she could see his face again his smile was genuine. It made T.J. wonder how worried he could really have been about today. Maybe he thought she would change her mind or act differently around him now she knew the truth. She couldn’t do it, T.J. knew she never could. She loved Leo as her dad and that would never change, even if she could learn to accept Logan Echolls into her life in some form or other.

“So, what do you want to do today?” he asked as they left with their arms around each other, Leo throwing a salute like wave to his deputy as he went.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I didn’t really have a plan when I said we should spend time. I just... I wanted to hang out, like we usually do.”

He knew what she was saying. Poor T.J., even though she knew it could never be, she still wanted to try and hang on to the normality she had before. Before the truth got out, before Logan Echolls showed his face back in Neptune.

“Then I guess it comes down to a choice,” said Leo as he flung his jacket into the car and got in, whilst T.J. did the same on the passenger side. “You want your butt kicked at bowling, or are you gonna make me suffer a girly movie?”

T.J. rolled her eyes at his joke. After all, he knew as well as she did that she was almost always the one to win when they went bowling, and any movie she chose to see would be anything but girly.

“I’m kinda hungry,” she told him as he put the car in gear. “Can we just go eat somewhere maybe?”

“Anything you want, sweetheart,” he told her easily, pulling the car away from the kerb, and heading for his daughter’s favourite eatery.

* * *

T.J. found she could laugh and joke and talk with Leo just as she always had after an initial moment of awkwardness. He took her to the burger bar across town and got her the usual order, complete with curly fries and a strawberry shake. He had treated her to the same meal in the same place every special occasion since she was five. This wasn’t exactly a Birthday or a reason to celebrate, but they both knew why they were here. They wanted to pretend everything was okay, if only for a little while, and this was the best way to do it, they had silently agreed on that.

Leo listened intently as T.J. talked about school in the usual way. She then asked about his day and he spoke of criminals caught and cases busted wide open, all without names and details, of course. It felt good, to act like everything was the same as before, but it couldn’t last. It wasn’t Antonio’s fault but the moment he appeared in the diner, things changed.

“Hi,” they greeted each other awkwardly.

T.J. wondered if she was going to have to make introductions between him and Leo when Antonio’s friends piled in behind him, hurrying him over to the counter.

“Friend of yours?” asked Leo curiously, watching with a hint of amusement as T.J. blushed profusely.

“Yes,” she forced out. “New friend, kind of. He’s a nice guy, he was there for me when... well, um, when I ran,” she finished lamely, wishing they didn’t have to do this now.

Everything had been going so well, so comfortable and normal. Now they had both been reminded about the white elephant sat between them in the booth this whole time. There was apparently just no avoiding it anymore.

“Y’know, Teresa.” Leo sighed, reaching to take a hold of her hand. “As much as I love that you still want me to be your dad, and I appreciate that more than you can ever know, it is okay that you met Logan,” he told her, even if his own words were a knife to the heart for him.

“It’s so weird.” She shook her head sadly. “I mean, he seems nice enough, nothing like he is on TV and all, but... but you are my dad, and I don’t really know how to deal.”

Leo felt horrible. He had always tried to do his best by his little girl, even though he knew from the beginning she was not his flesh and blood. He raised her as his own alongside Veronica, and they’d done a good job as far as they could tell. Leo hadn’t really considered too often how selfish he was being, but now it was hitting him full force.

“We should get out of here,” he muttered, sliding out of the booth and encouraging T.J. to follow him.

They went back to the privacy of the car for a conversation that was definitely not for public consumption. T.J. dreaded what he was going to say, but worse what she might say. She had tried to hate Logan but it hadn’t taken much encouragement from her Mom and biological dad to make her see he was not the enemy here. A good nights sleep on things made it clear to her that it did make sense for her at least to get to know the guy a little before she judged him, but she was just so afraid of hurting Leo in the process.

“T.J., y’know, me and your mom, we did what we thought was best for you at the time,” he told her when they were away from prying ears. “If I had my time again, I’d do it all just the same, because I think we raised you well enough.”

“You did,” she agreed, nodding her head, “but lying to me? That wasn’t cool.”

“I see that now, we all do,” Leo assured her. “Even grown ups screw up on doing the right thing sometimes. You know that better than anyone, seeing all your mom’s cases, and what I have to deal with.”

She nodded her agreement but stayed quite for now. T.J. just didn’t know what to say for the best. Safer then perhaps to say nothing.

“The fact is, Logan clearly wants to get to know you,” said Leo eventually. “As much as it hurts to say it, he is you father T.J., and if you want to know the guy, I wouldn’t ever wanna get in the way of that, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, all but a whisper as she glanced over at him.

This whole time her eyes had been trained on her lap as she twisted a lose thread on her cuff around and around until it almost completely snapped off. This was horrible, worse than if her dad had been mad about her wanting to get to know Logan. She could’ve dealt with that. His being nice about it somehow just made her feel worse, so bad in fact she could cry.

“Hey.” Leo reached out to put a hand to her cheek and turned her face towards him. “If you want Logan to be your dad or your friend or whatever, that’s fine with me, honestly,” he promised, trying not to wince as he spoke those words, “but no matter what, I will always be here for you, and you will always, always be my little girl, Teresa Jane,” he swore to her. 

“I love you, Daddy,” said T.J. tearfully as she reached across to hug him tight.

He hugged her back just as tightly, trying to fight the tears that came into his eyes.

“I love you too, baby,” he promised her. “I really do.”


	17. Chapter 17

T.J. would’ve thought this moment to be the weirdest of her life as she picked up the phone and started to dial the private number for Logan Echolls. Of course, she had come to redefine weird these past few days since discovering she was in fact the movie star’s daughter, and all she knew of her paternity for the past sixteen years had been a lie. She tried not to think about it too much. This conversation was going to be bizarre enough if she was concentrating, she wouldn’t dare to let her mind wander.

Taking a deep calming breath, she listened to the line ring. It was crazy, she actually felt kind of nervous, but didn’t know why. She had nothing to fear, Logan wanted to get to know her, and she had the full backing of her Mom and Leo to do this. Still, she couldn’t stop shaking, and felt like an idiot when he picked up and her voice wouldn’t answer.

“Hello?” Logan tried again, clearly starting to wonder if this was a prank call.

T.J. cleared her throat and forced some words out.

“Hey, it’s me,” she said at last. “It’s T.J.” she added when she realised he might not know.

Honestly, Logan had been startled until she said her name. She sounded so much like Veronica, he almost allowed himself to get his hopes up that it was her. Not that his daughter was in any way a disappointment, of course.

“Hey.” He smiled into the greeting even though she couldn’t see. “Um, how’re you doing?” he asked conversationally, really not sure where to begin with the daughter he barely knew.

“I’m fine, y’know, pretty okay considering... everything,” she replied awkwardly. “You?”

“All the better for hearing your voice actually,” he told her genuinely. “I’m sorry, is that weird for you to hear?”

“No, it’s okay.” She smiled as she answered him honestly. “It’s kind of nice, in a weird way. You’re still Logan Echolls, movie star, in my head so... yeah, weird,” she admitted.

Logan laughed a little at that comment.

“Well, I can do Logan Echolls, regular person too, I promise,” he told her with a chuckle. “Y’know, you’re welcome to come over any time and see for yourself?” he offered.

It was shaky ground, and he knew it. Pushing her would be bad if she wasn’t ready yet. The poor kid already had a dad as far as she was concerned, and though Logan had to hate the fact his little girl had been raised by Leo D’Amato, it wasn’t T.J.’s fault. He was doing his level best to be an adult here, to be understanding of his daughter’s needs over and above his own. It was not easy for Logan, but he was really trying.

“That’s actually kinda what I wanted to talk to you about,” T.J. admitted then, twisting her hair around her finger in a nervous gesture. “Um, I was wondering, if you’re not busy, if I could come over later today?” she asked nervously. “It’s totally cool if you say no-”

“I would love for you to come over, T.J.” he told her easily before she had a chance to make any further apologies or excuses. “I told you, any time you want is fine with me. If I had plans, I’d cancel them. As it is, I really don’t have any for today, so any time is good.”

T.J. felt oddly emotional at the sound of those words. Logan really did want to be there whenever she needed him, like a good father should. It was still weird but it was also nice that he could care that much. It made her wonder all the more why he and her Mom hadn’t worked out, and more so why Veronica never told Logan the truth about T.J. when she was still a baby.

“Okay, so I’ll be over a little after noon, if that’s cool,” she told him. “My Mom has those pictures she said you could have, so I can bring them too.”

“That’d be great,” Logan agreed easily, having a sudden thought about Veronica then. “Y’know you can bring your mom along if it’d make you more comfortable. She’s always welcome too.”

Honestly, Logan wasn’t sure which answer he was hoping for when he made the offer. Seeing Veronica brought out mixed emotions in him. Anger and pain over the secrets she kept, the betrayal and all, but at the same time, he wanted to see her. She was the love of his life, always had been and always would be. Nothing could ever change that, not a single thing.

On the other hand, it might just be better for him and T.J. to have some alone time. A little father-daughter bonding had to be of the good, even if it started out awkward as all hell.

“I think Mom is looking for some free time with me out of the house.” She almost laughed as she explained. “With everything else, she’s a little behind on the birthday prep.”

“Your birthday is coming up?” Logan asked, realising what a dumb question that was and literally face-palming as he waited for her reply.

“Yup,” she told him, popping the P. “A week from tomorrow, I turn sixteen.”

Logan shook his head, recalling the old days in Neptune High when he turned sixteen. back then, things had been so different. His feelings for Veronica were buried deep beneath the more superficial glossy love he and Lilly shared. Life had been crazy and fun and almost care-free. He had two parents, and a sister, and a whole life stretching out in front of him. T.J. had that now, a loving family and a world to explore...

“Logan?” her voice in his ear prompted him to return for the fuzzy world of memories and concentrate.

“Sorry,” he apologised fast. “Um, I’ll see you this afternoon, T.J.” he told her with a smile she could almost hear.

“Yeah, I’ll see you,” she replied in kind before ringing off.

T.J. sat staring at the phone for a long moment after that, wondering at her situation. She was going to spend the afternoon with her biological father, who also happened to be one of the most well-known well-loved actors on the planet.

“I gotta write my autobiography some day,” she said to herself, tossing the phone aside and collapsing bodily onto her bed. “’Cause that’s gonna be the craziest book ever printed!”

* * *

Antonio liked Eli Navarro. It wasn’t just that he felt he had to for his mother’s sake. It wasn’t because the guy in question had just brought home a wreck of a bike from his cousin’s yard for Antonio himself, or even that he offered to help him rebuild the thing and learn to ride it. The fact was, the man he was allowed to call Weevil was actually a good guy. He was happy to be a good friend to Antonio, a mentor if he wanted one, but he never once tried to be his dad.

The fact was Antonio had a father already. Sure, he had died when the boy was seven, but that didn’t make him any the less his dad. Antonio was not looking for a replacement, but it was kinda cool having a guy around the place that was decent and honest, that treated both him and his mother with respect. Plus it didn’t hurt that Weevil had some pull in this town with the local biker crowd and all, given he was the boss once upon a time.

“I’m still not sure how I feel about this,” said Lena, framed in the doorway as she watched the two men in her life pull pieces off the motorcycle on the drive way.

“Chica, I asked you before I got the bike. You agreed it was cool,” he reminded her.

“I know that I did.” She nodded her agreement. “But if you don’t handle these things carefully-”

“I promise, Mom, it’ll be fine,” Antonio swore to her. “Nobody knows bikes like Weevil, so it’ll be built properly, tested a whole bunch, and he’ll teach me how to ride like a pro. No danger, I swear,” he promised.

“I know.” Lena smiled, taking her son’s face in her hands and kissing his forehead. “You boys have your fun. I’m gonna make a start on some lunch,” she said as she went in doors.

Antonio turned back to the bike and to Weevil with a smile.

“Women!” He sighed, and the older man lightly cuffed him upside his head.

“Hey, you have some respect for women. Especially your mother,” he said with a look. “They worry about us, means they care. You don’t wanna live in a world where they don’t, you got that?”

“Oh, I know that.” Antonio nodded vigorously. “Trust me, girls doin’ all kinds of caring? That works for me.” He grinned. “Some of the chicks at school are gonna care a whole lot when they see this bike fixed up.”

“Sometimes I forget you’re seventeen.” Weevil rolled his eyes as they got back to work.

Life was so different when you were a teen. Thinking back, his own high school days were a hazy mess. Seventeen. He had been dating Lilly then, though he used the term ‘dating’ loosely. He was a year older than her and yet a grade behind in school. By the time he was a Junior, she was dead and gone, and then so was Felix. His grandma barely made it to his graduation and from there things just kinda spiralled. He didn’t have many people to care then, except maybe Veronica Mars. She had stayed his friend this whole time, and he still couldn’t quite wrap his head round it. The blonde, white chick, the Sheriff’s daughter, and then another Sheriff’s wife, playing at best buds with the old head of the biker gang, a criminal, a brown-skinned miscreant. The world would never make them a pair, and yet to this day he knew he could go to her with any problem, and would get her out of any jam she asked him to, legal or not.

“You have a lot of girlfriends in high school, Weevil?” asked Antonio, an idle curiosity his almost step-father assumed.

“Some, not a lot.” He shrugged non-comittally. “You got a particular reason for asking?” he checked, wondering when Antonio seemed suddenly quiet - it wasn’t really like him.

“I dunno, just wondered.” He shrugged, much like Weevil had. “I checked on T.J. the other day. She seems weirdly okay with the whole parents lying to her thing, but it’s gotta be rough on her.”

Weevil tried not to smile as he listened the teen ramble on about Veronica’s daughter. He had a crush, that much was obvious, though Weevil didn’t call him on it. Antonio was a good kid, not like some of the others he’d met around here. He had some respect for women, and even for the law to an acceptable degree. If he wanted to get close to Teresa Jane, Weevil didn’t think it would be a problem. Of course, fragile as the kid was by now, he knew even Antonio needed some kind of warning.

“Look, A, I’m all for you being ‘friends’ with this girl,” he said pointedly. “Far as I can make out, she’s a lot like her mom.”

“Did you and her mom ever...? ‘Cause that might be weird,” said Antonio with a look of concern.

Weevil shook his head in the negative, looking almost regretful somehow.

“You don’t say that in front of Veronica, you got that? No, we were only ever friends, not that it makes a difference to you,” he said firmly. “Anyway, my point, that you stepped all over, was this. You can go after T.J., that’s cool, ‘cause I know you’ll treat her right,” he said with a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “But you gotta remember she’s goin’ through a rough time. She starts throwing signals and stuff your way, just remember she maybe only wants a shoulder, and not the rest of you, you read me?”

“I get it,” Antonio nodded definitely.

He did understand this was a tricky situation. T.J. wanted a friend right now and that’s what he was going to be, but it wouldn’t be forever. He would never take advantage of her just because she was upset over her screwed up family stuff. If they went out or did whatever, it’d be because they liked each other and they wanted to, both of them.

Without another word the guys went back to their mechanics, but there was a smile on Weevil’s face that wouldn’t shift. Oh, he would love for Antonio to make a couple with T.J. D’Amato, not because it gave him a link to V or even really because he wanted to see Antonio with such a nice girl, though both would be good things. His reason for grinning was because Teresa Jane was an Echolls by DNA. Logan’s little girl making eyes at the boy Weevil would soon call a step-son? That made the ex-biker all kinds of happy.


	18. Chapter 18

“T.J., hey,” said Logan awkwardly as he opened the front door and welcomed her into his home. “Um, did you walk up here?” he asked, realising there was no car.

“Actually, Grandpa Keith dropped me off around the corner,” she explained as she stepped inside the ridiculously large house. “I really don’t think he’s your biggest fan,” she admitted with a smirk that reminded Logan way too much of himself.

“Leo is really more Grandpa Keith’s type of guy, all dependable and salt of the Earthy,” he explained, suddenly realising that might’ve sounded a little too much like a slight on the guy T.J. still called Dad. “Which is good, I mean, he’s a good guy. They both are.”

T.J. just nodded her head, agreeing with the sentiment, and not sure what else she was supposed to say. Standing here in the hallway in her out-of-fashion clothes in the entrance hall to the biggest house in Neptune she ever set foot in, she really didn’t know where to begin. Especially since the guy stood opposite her looked just as unsettled, and she barely knew him, even though he was apparently her father.

“Um, so I brought those pictures,” she said eventually, pulling her backpack off the one shoulder it was slung over. “They’re not in an album or anything, Mom didn’t wanna presume, and we’re not really the scrapbook kind anyway.”

“Come on through.” Logan gestured for her to follow him to the next room, and sat down at the table where he seemed to expect her to join him.

T.J. parked herself beside him and then pulled out the photographs, dropping them onto the table.

“These are all the spare hard copies she had that she thought you might want,” she explained. “And this, is everything else.” She smiled almost nervously as she handed over an SD card to a startled Logan.

“Always up on her technology, that’s our Veronica.” He smiled.

“It’s mostly pictures, some video. Y’know, a couple of Christmasses, irthdays, my first day of school, I think,” she told him, as Logan nodded along. “Of course, some of it has my dad in it... I mean...”

“It’s okay, I know what you mean,” Logan assured her, a hand briefly at her shoulder in some kind of comforting gesture.

It was awkward, and they couldn’t really expect it to be anything else. They were strangers in spite of the fact they shared DNA, and that wasn’t going to change until they had a real kind of conversation. Of course it hurt for Logan to hear T.J. call Leo her dad, but that wasn’t her fault. They couldn’t tip-toe around each other too much, it would become ridiculous.

“So, we need ground rules,” said Logan then, placing his hands on the table with a bump. “I promise not to mind if you mention Leo or call him your dad, and not to tell stories of my past with your mom, if you promise not to make me feel old, and actually talk to me like a person, not a movie star. Deal?” he offered his hand for her to shake and T.J. couldn’t help but smile.

“Deal,” she agreed, shaking the hand he offered her. “You do know you’re a little crazy, right?” she checked.

Logan looked around as if checking they weren’t being listened to, then leaned in close to her ear.

“You’ll learn that’s all part of the Echolls charm,” he assured her, making T.J. roll her eyes.

At least he seemed to have put her ease, and they weren’t so awkward with each other right in this moment.

“So, what happens now?” she asked after a moment. “I mean, you wanna know about me or tell me about you? I’m not exactly sure how this is supposed to go.” She shrugged, clearly unsure of herself but trying not to show it too much.

Yup, there was no doubting she was as much Veronica’s daughter as she was his own, Logan thought. Truth was he didn’t exactly have a plan here either, he just wanted to get to know the little girl who wasn’t so little really, the daughter he hadn’t met until this week.

“Well, how about you throw a little context on these pictures for me?” he suggested, picking the first few off the pile and glancing throughout them. “I mean, this cute little bundle here, that can’t be you, can it?” he asked with a smirk.

“Apparently.” She smiled, looking over his shoulder at the photo of her mother holding her as a baby.

Logan tried to concentrate on little Teresa Jane alone, but it didn’t come easy. Veronica was just as he remembered her back then. Perhaps a little more tired in this particular picture, but as young and beautiful as ever. It tore at his heart to think of how he so easily left her behind then. Maybe easy was the wrong word, because it hadn’t really been that, but he had run away just like always. When he left Neptune behind, he also left the love of his life, and she had lived for years as wife and mother to another man and his own child.

“...and this one is my first birthday.” T.J. was sighing when he tuned back in, lost for a moment on a cloud of memories and regret. “I know I look happy, but Mom says I actually spent most of the day screaming the house down because I was teething.”

Logan smiled at the story, and they moved on to other pictures. He made sure to listen to T.J. more carefully and take in all the stories she wanted to share. She was animated in her story telling, arms waving in gestures, feeling all the happy and sad emotions keenly. It was like a movie of her childhood meant just for him, that was how Logan felt, and he loved it. Sure, it reminded him how he had missed so much, but there was no use feeling bitter about that. Nothing could give him back the time he and T.J. had lost, they could only move forward.

It was crazy to think he could be so mature, even Logan realised that. Being in this house reminded him of his teenage years, how stupid he had been at times, how carefree at others. Now he actually had the capacity to behave like an adult, and it mattered now more than ever. T.J. didn’t really need a father, she felt like she already had one, but Logan still wanted to try to be a dad. It was unlikely he was going to get another chance to do so, and T.J. was still his daughter, no matter how she was raised, or by whom.

“So, you like high school?” Logan asked as he put down the last of the pictures and turned to look at her. “It sounds like you’re doing okay there.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She shrugged. “Neptune High is... it’s fine. I like most of my teachers and I have friends and everything.”

“Boyfriends I should know about?” he asked then, and it was a toss up who was more embarrassed in that moment. “Sorry, is that not a question you’re comfortable with me asking?” he apologised fast.

T.J. shook her head.

“It’s fine, I mean, it’s not like it’s a big deal,” she assured him, never the less, she got up from the table and started finding his decor overly interesting. “There are guys I like, but I don’t exactly date much. With my parents being a PI and the law? Most people kinda don’t wanna mess with that.”

Logan smiled then, remembering how it was for him dating Veronica, who had been both the daughter of the Sheriff and a Private Eye at different times. You really shouldn’t mess with a girl whose father always carried a gun, and T.J. was raised by two parents packing heat.

“Dating isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” he said, getting up himself, coming to stand by T.J. and look up at the poster she was staring at. “Neither is being a movie star sometimes.”

“I’ve seen this one,” she said, pointing up at the over-sized advertisement for ‘Steel Tornado’. “Honestly? It’s my favourite of your stuff,” she admitted, stunning the usually unflappable Logan into silence. “But I have to know, was it really you on the motorcycle?” she asked, looking over at him, sure she would know if he was lying.

“Honestly?” he echoed her word as he met her eyes. “To a point, yeah, but not the big stunt,” he admitted. “Does that make me less cool?”

“Not really.” She shrugged. “Maybe makes you a little less stupid than some. Why put your life on the line for the sake of a movie? There’s plenty of things in real life that’ll kill you without risking yourself to fake it.”

With that she turned and walked away, exploring his world, Logan guessed. His eyes followed her across the room as she peeked in vases and eye-balled paintings. She was so like her mother it was untrue, darker hair and grungier clothes not withstanding. Wise beyond her years and just a little jaded by the world she was raised in. Logan couldn’t think she would’ve turned out any much better with him around, but at least he was here now. They were getting on well enough, he couldn’t ask for much more.

“So, you want the full tour?” he asked, following her.

T.J. agreed and they set off together.

* * *

“Earth to Mars!” Mac employed an oft-used word play to get her friend back from wherever her mind had just gone to. “Seriously, that’s the third time since I got here,” she told Veronica who shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” she apologised, trying to focus on the paper in front of her. “I know this needs my attention, I just... I keep wondering how it’s going. Y’know, with T.J. and Logan?”

“It’ll be fine,” her friend assured her, putting a comforting hand to her arm. “If T.J. wasn’t happy there, she’d call. Logan isn’t exactly the devil incarnate, and he’s not going to wanna screw things up with his daughter, right?”

“I know.” She nodded, finding a smile at last. “I should be taking advantage of this time. This party isn’t going to organise itself, and with dad going away to chase bail jumpers again-”

“You have me, and we can totally do this,” said Mac, flipping through tabs on her Internet browser. “These are your options for catering so far, and we’ve narrowed venues down to two. We can do this, we can.”

“Thanks, Mac.” The blonde sighed, leaning into her best friends side. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Good job I’m always here then, huh?” She smirked in reply. “Good old maiden-aunt Mac.”

“You make it sound like you’re never going to settle down.” Veronica laughed lightly. “From what you’ve been saying about you and a certain business magnate-”

“Veronica,” Mac’s eyes narrowed then. “Me and Dick are just friends, the same as we have been for years now,” she lied, and the blonde was almost certain she was being told an untruth.

“You remember how I have this knack for knowing when people are telling tall tales, Miss Mackenzie?” said Veronica as she looked sideways at her friend.

Mac’s cheeks started to heat up, giving her away entirely. She wasn’t supped to talk about her relationship with Dick, not with anyone, even her BFF. She might’ve spilt the news later when things were more firmly settled, but right now things were still up in the air and with Dick being her boss, it was just complicated. Unfortunately, what Veronica said was true. She did always know when people were lying to her, her friends especially. Mac didn’t like to lie and concealing the truth was just as bad.

“We might’ve got a little tipsy at a company function,” she admitted, without ever looking at her friend. “And we might have had some sex.”

“Cindy Mackenzie!” her friend exploded suddenly.

Veronica’s face was a picture of shock, but a smile soon broke through it. She couldn’t really judge Mac for what she had done. She was old enough and wise enough to know if she wanted to sleep with a guy or not, and she and Dick had been dancing around each other for so long now. It was always going to happen eventually, it was just a case of when.

“I know, I know,” sighed Mac, covering her face with her hands for a moment. “I just... I’ve kind of wanted to for a while now, and I’m not sorry it happened,” she confirmed. “I’m just sorry that Logan showed up before I could escape.”

“Ooh, yeah, that had to be not fun,” said Veronica, her smile gone in an instant. “Did he say anything?”

“Only that he was surprised to see me. I left Dick to explain, which maybe wasn’t the brightest idea, but honestly? I wasn’t sure what had and hadn’t happened with Logan and T.J. right then,” she explained. “I bolted partly from embarrassment but a lot from not wanting to play piggy in the middle of your family crisis.”

Veronica nodded her understanding and quickly moved the topic back onto T.J.’s party. The whole messed up paternity situation was still kind of a sore point between her and Mac even now. They moved past it, they loved each other like sisters, but when the subject came up it would never stop being awkward. With what Mac had been through with her own family, it was never going to get any easier.

Veronica only hoped things with T.J. and Logan were getting less complicated as they spent their afternoon bonding or whatever. With their clash of personalities she couldn’t help but wonder if the Echolls house wouldn’t have exploded or burnt to the ground all over again before the day was out. Maybe it was better if she just didn’t think about it at all!

* * *

Logan had given T.J. a full tour of the house he had known as a teen, complete with its additions and changes since the fire years ago. A place he hoped his daughter would come to know as a second home given time. On the way around, he told stories of his family, his Mom, his sister, even his dad in part, though there were few good tales that included him. T.J. smiled and laughed, and looked genuinely impressed, which was fine by Logan. She never asked where her so-called grandparents or aunt were now. He figured she already knew from the TV specials and felt bad about bringing it up again. Instead she focused on the tales he told of crazy parties when he was her age, school pranks, and all kinds of fun.

“Sounds like you had a pretty wild time growing up,” said T.J. thoughtfully as they headed back down the stairs. “Mom doesn’t talk about the high school years much. I guess now I know why,” she added, looking sideways at Logan.

“I comfort myself with the fact that it probably wasn’t all about me,” he said with consideration as he gestured for her to follow him through to the kitchen.

There was no way he was going to elaborate on what life was like for either himself of Veronica back then, not the dark side she would doubtless like to forget as much as he would. Lilly’s death, Duncan’s fits. The bus crash, parental crises. It was all too much, even now.

“Y’know, you could fit our house into this place like six times over,” T.J. noted as she wandered up to the kitchen counter and pulled herself up onto a stool.

“It is kind of a lot for just me,” said Logan, as he went to the fridge to find soda for the both of them. “What’s your poison, T.J.? I’ve got grape, lemon-lime, cherry?”

“Cherry, thanks,” she told him, catching the can that he slid across to her.

Logan pulled out a lemon-lime for himself and leant across the counter to face T.J. He smiled when she didn’t check the can to see if it was diet or anything. He didn’t want to know his daughter was crazy-obsessed like that, not when she was in perfectly fine shape, just as Veronica had always been.

“So, your mom is planning a big party for your birthday, huh?” he said conversationally.

T.J. nodded a little as she swigged from her can.

“Yeah, I guess.” She smiled then. “I don’t know, it’s not like we have a tonne of people to invite, or anywhere to put them even if we did.” She laughed lightly. “I doubt it’ll be as crazy as the parties you used to have here when you were my age.”

“Why not?” he asked with a look then. “I mean, why not have your party here?”

“Are you serious?” she wanted to know, eyes wide at the very idea.

“Rarely, if ever,” Logan joked. “But on this occasion, yes,” he assured her easily. “C’mon, I mean, this house is huge and empty, and... and you’re my daughter,” he said looking down at his can then rather than at her. “Why shouldn’t I help out in giving you the best sweet sixteen Neptune has ever seen?” He smiled, glancing up to look at her then.

T.J. couldn’t speak. A party in a house like this would be incredible and epic. Sam would lose her mind. Antonio had to be impressed. She could invite everyone ever and it would have to rock. Logan was a decent guy, maybe not one she was willing to call Daddy yet, if ever, but he was being really nice to her today. He was fun, he told good stories, and he seemed genuinely interested in getting to know her. Now he had made this incredible offer and she wasn’t sure what to say or do.

“Thank you,” she said with evident gratitude. “I mean, really, thank you. That would be so awesome, I...”

T.J. didn’t know what else to do. When her Mom and Dad or her best friend did something so great for her, she knew how to show her appreciation. This was different, but she knew it shouldn’t be. This was her biological father after all. Getting up off her stool, she rounded the counter, apparently startling Logan at least a little.

“Thank you,” she repeated, reaching out to hug him.

It was a brief moment, but Logan felt oddly emotional as he held his daughter for the first time in his life. Just as soon as she was in his arms, she was pulling away again, and he let her go because he had to. It was worth it though, just that brief moment, and the smile on her face that practically set her aglow. It wasn’t as if he was buying her affection as such, he was just doing a nice thing for his baby girl. As far as Logan could see, there was nothing wrong with that at all.


	19. Chapter 19

Veronica was incensed as she drove over to Logan’s house. It was Monday morning and even Neptune had a rush hour of sorts - folks heading to work, parents giving kids rides to school. Every car that got in her way, every light that turned red, Veronica yelled and slammed her hands on the steering wheel in frustration.

This bad mood had been brewing for more than a day and she was now at breaking point. When Teresa Jane had said she wanted to go and spend time with Logan on Saturday, Veronica had been fine with it. She wanted father and daughter to bond, plus she needed some time with T.J. out of the house to prepare for a sixteenth Birthday party that was now needed in less than a week. Busy schedules and confidence in her last minute planning skills had meant Veronica let everything slide to the last and now it was all a rush. Add to that T.J.’s biological father was back on scene, and nothing was ever going to run smooth. Nothing with Logan ever had before, why start now?

The real crunch moment had come Saturday night when T.J. returned home from the Echolls house, proclaiming she was having a sweet sixteen bash right there where Daddy Dearest lived. Right then and there, Veronica wanted to explode, but somehow she held it in. Yelling and screaming at T.J. was the very last thing she wanted to do. Their relationship was still so fragile, it would do no good at all. Instead she nodded, smiled, held her tongue, and waited until her daughter turned in for the night.

Out in the back yard, Veronica called Mac for good counsel. She would usually turn to her dad in times of crisis, even now, but he wasn’t the most objective person where Logan was concerned. Mac had said she could see both sides, but that maybe Logan hadn’t been thinking clearly when he made his offer. She advised what Veronica already knew, that she needed to have a serious talk with her ex, set up some ground rules and draw some lines before anything else got out of hand.

Veronica tried not to think about it all day Sunday. She really didn’t want T.J. to know she had plans to go see Logan to explode at him, it was better that way. She tried to distract her daughter with other activities and between a movie and homework, she didn’t mention her ‘epic’ party too much. Veronica tried not to react at all at her particular choice of descriptor - she could never explain her involuntary shiver at the word.

Now the wait was over. T.J. was in school, or at least on her way there, and Veronica was headed over to the Echolls place to tear Logan a new one. Mac had advised calm and reasonable, and on a sensible level, Veronica knew she was right. Unfortunately, the more she thought about this, the more mad she got. Her anger and frustration boiled over. How dare he? How fricking dare Logan Echolls come sweeping in with his money and his huge mansion of a house and take her daughter’s sweet sixteen out from under her? Without even consulting her! There was no way he was getting away with it.

Security let her straight through, they must’ve been given her name and description as a suitable guest to be admitted. If they’d known she was practically planning murder, they might not have been so gracious. Logan must have been warned she was coming in, but even he wasn’t quite ready for the entrance she made. Her car crunching up on the gravel, her car door slamming shut. She practically stormed into his house through to the living room, her face red and eyes flashing. She was every angry moment Logan ever remembered of her, and she was beautiful.

“How dare you, Logan? Seriously, how dare you?” she asked him loudly.

“Good morning, Veronica,” he said, deliberately overly pleasant as he put his tablet computer down on the coffee table and faced her. “I’m sorry, are you talking about something specific?” he asked her, voice still perfectly even.

“Don’t play games with me, Echolls, we’ve grown way past that,” said Veronica crossly, pointing an angry finger at him. “You offered T.J. a party, in your house!” she exclaimed, still astonished by it even now. “What were you even thinking?”

Logan rushed to close the door behind her that she had slammed through but left swinging on the hinges.

“I was trying to do a nice thing for our daughter, Veronica,” he hissed in her ear as he walked around to face her again. “I had no idea that was a crime.”

“How would we ever explain it? Without the truth coming out?” She shook her head, voice dropping a few decibels as she caught on to the fact she was almost making ill-timed announcements to the whole building.

“It won’t,” Logan cut in fast. “I promised you and T.J. that I would not say anything to anyone about her being my daughter,” he reminded her. “The press conference for my moving back to Neptune has been delayed, too much other celebrity gossip to overshadow it, I don’t know,” he waved one arm in a random gesture. “And even when that rolls around, I will not mention T.J., Veronica. I swore that on my life, and you of all people should know I do keep my word when it matters.”

She sighed at that, all the fight going out of her in a rush. Veronica knew she should trust him more than this, after all they had been through in the past. She was mad at him for what she saw as going behind her back, but his crime was so minor when compared to her own and she knew it. The fact he hadn’t thrown that in her face yet astonished her, but then they were’t finished yet.

“Your security, all your staff here,” she said, eyes still closed a moment as she tried to stay calm. “They have to know,” she guessed as she looked up at him then.

“Nope,” he confirmed, shaking his head. “Just Amy, my personal assistant, and I’d trust her with my life,” he promised.

There was a look that Veronica was sure she saw when he said that, but couldn’t be certain she hadn’t imagined it. The curious streak in her had always been a mile wide and she simply had to ask.

“Are you and Amy...?”

She didn’t have to finish the question, her meaning was clear enough.

Logan smirked because he couldn’t help himself. He half wondered if Veronica might’ve been jealous but right now didn’t seem a good time to ask. He could also tell his ex that his private affairs were his own business and none of hers, but making more trouble seemed fruitless right now.

“No,” he confirmed then, serious as the day was long. “Amy is like my best friend these days, but nothing ever happened, and it never would,” he confirmed.

Veronica was surprised to feel oddly releived, but chose not to dwell on it. She had come here with a purpose, and they were getting all away from the point.

“Okay,” she said then, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Explain to me again how T.J. can have a party here without the whole town wondering why?” she insisted.

Logan sat down on the arm of the couch, studying her for a long enough moment that Veronica almost felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Just when she was going to prompt him to answer already, he did so anyway.

“You just tell people you needed a last minute venue, and an old friend of the family offered to help out.” He shrugged easily. “It’s not a complete lie.”

He had a point, and Veronica hated that. She didn’t want to let him win, even more than she didn’t want to have to fight with him. There was a tiny part of her that loved this, arguing and snarking at each other like days gone by. Even when they were deeply cruel to each other, she had known deep down she felt something completely different for the jackass that was Logan Echolls at sixteen. They had both admitted as much later on. Almost twenty years down the road from those high school days, it still felt strangely good to trade verbal blows.

“See your point. Well volleyed,” she admitted, her body dropping out of its fighting stance a little bit by now, “but that’s not the only problem. Riddle me this, smart ass, how am I supposed to have Leo at our daughter's party if it’s here? He won’t like it.”

“Well, boo frickin’ hoo, Veronica!” Logan exploded as she ought to have known he would. “In case you forgot, Teresa Jane is my daughter,” he impressed upon her, telling himself he was only getting in her face so he didn’t have to yell, but that wasn’t entirely true. “D’Amato had the first sixteen years of her life. You don’t think I deserve at least one night for me?”

Veronica wanted to argue and they both knew it, but there was just no way to do so. His point was perfectly made and justified. Logan had missed out on fifteen previous Birthdays as well as Christmasses. First word, first step, first day of school, every milestone in T.J.’s life up to this point. It would be wrong to deny him access to her on her sixteenth Birthday, and worse to not allow him to give his daughter a gift she was so pleased to have, a large and exquisite venue for her most special party.

Veronica watched Logan as he turned his back on her then, running a hand through his hair. He hated this as much as she did, that everything was so complicated. He probably hadn’t even meant to yell at her that way, but the frustration had to come out somewhere, and she did know that all the blame for this situation sat solely on her shoulders.

“Fine.” She nodded once, as he looked back at her. “We’ll have the party here, but I have ground rules, Logan. I know you’ve missed out on a lot, and I can’t apologise enough for that, but she’s my daughter too.”

“I get it,” he agreed with a smile he couldn’t help. “We’re both adults now, Veronica, we can have a grown up conversation about our daughter’s sixteenth birthday party, right?”

It was something about the way he said it - our daughter - that made Veronica’s insides shift in a weird but nice way. For so long she had allowed herself to deny Teresa was anything but her baby, Leo’s baby, a D’Amato in name at least. Now she was forced to face the fact of her lies, that T.J. was an Echolls as much as a Mars by blood. Logan was here and they were both parents to this child that was almost a young woman already, a connection she and her ex could never get away from.

Veronica pulled her laptop from her bag and sat down on the couch, opening the computer up on the coffee table. Logan was by the internal phone, presumably calling for refreshments.

“Jeeves, a pot of coffee please,” he asked for with a smile at the blonde, “with two cups.”

“You really have a butler named Jeeves?” she asked with a raised eyebrow the moment he hung up.

“No,” he answered honestly, sitting down beside her and looking towards the laptop screen on which party details began to appear, “but he doesn’t argue when I call him that, so why not?”

Veronica laughed at that, she found she could do nothing else in this moment. It was a nice feeling.

* * *

T.J. bit her lip to keep from cursing as her folder slid from her hands and papers went flying down the school hallway. Several nearby students laughed, or even cheered and clapped at her misfortune. Only one stopped to help her, a guy she recognised.

“One of those days, huh?” said Antonio with a smile as he gathered up some of the fallen papers and handed them back to her.

“It’s not so bad.” T.J. smiled back as they both got to their feet, “At least it wasn’t 'til thirty seconds ago.”

She looked down at the papers in her hands with horror. It was really going to take a while to put it all back in order.

“Well, I gotta go,” said Antonio then as his name was called. “See you around, T.J.,” he assured her as he hurried to catch up his friends at the end of the hallway.

“Yeah, see ya.” She smiled, resting the urge to wave like a moron as he rushed away.

“Seriously, Teej? Let it go!” Sam advised as she walked up behind her. “He’s so not your type.”

“Like you would even know what my type is, Sam.” Her best friend laughed.

“Whatever.” The blonde rolled her eyes as they walked along. “Fact is, if he liked you, he would’ve asked you out by now anyway, right? I’m guessing that didn’t happen, unless...”

“Unless?” her friend prompted when she went oddly quiet.

They cleared the doors, passing buy the biker crowd where they sat along the wall by the quad. Sam seemed unwilling to say anything until she had rushed T.J. around a corner out of sight from the gang that included Antonio.

“Unless he’s the reason I couldn’t get a hold of you all of Saturday,” she prompted.

T.J. opened her mouth to deny it but closed it again fast. If she said she wasn’t with Antonio she would have to admit to being with Logan, and honestly she really didn’t want to go there with Sam again. The blonde had already been begging on a regular basis to be told the moment T.J. spent any time with her father. She had aspirations of being invited over to the Echolls house herself, of course. Then there was the new party venue that T.J was banned from speaking of until things were definitively settled between Logan and Veronica...

“Yes, actually,” she lied like a pro, feeling somewhat bad about it, but it was just easier than the truth somehow. “Yeah, I was with Antonio.”

Sam’s eyes were wide as saucers as she peeked back around the corner at the bikers, focusing mostly on the one in question. She could hardly believe that her BFF was dating a guy like that!

The bikers knew they were being watched, and it was the leader of them all, Marco, that commented on it first.

“What is it with you and those chicks, man?” he asked the other guy.

“Nothin’.” Antonio shrugged easily. “I just made some friends is all. No big deal.”

“No big deal?” Frankie chuckled. “When you got ‘friends’ as hot as that? C’mon, bro, level with us. You gonna tap that?”

“That’s not cool, man,” his friend told him with a shake of his head. “Me and T.J., we’re friends, that’s all. My step-dad knows her mom from way back. It’s not even a thing,” he waved off their suspicions as nothing.

The guys made fun of him a little longer before they got onto speaking of other girls they liked, that they’d made it with or planned to later. Antonio was barely listening. He hadn’t really lied about T.J. Everything he said about her was true; their friendship, their parental connection. The only real lie was the one he was telling himself, that he could just stay friends with a girl like her. There was something about her, he just couldn’t get out of his head. He’d keep his promise to Weevil about giving her time and space and all until she was ready, but then he was going to ask her out. He had to do it, or he’d go crazy just wondering what might’ve been.


	20. Chapter 20

Mac always thought she was pretty brave in her own way. She stood up for what she believed in and didn’t back down even if she was the only one. She embraced her inner geek, she fought her way into good jobs, past guys with rich fathers and family connections. She did not stick to society rules if she didn’t agree with them. It was all pretty brave, pretty ballsy for a woman like her to do. Mac was no stereotype, she wasn’t going to bag a rich husband and squeeze out a litter just because people expected her to do that. One day, family life would be fine with the right guy and everything, but damn it, if she wasn’t going to do things her way.

Of course, Cindy Mackenzie knew she was a stereotype in at least one way now, and not half so brave as she ought to be on that exact same topic. Dick Casablancas. He just had to go ahead and be an exception to every rule she thought she had. Somehow over the past twenty years they had moved through so many stages of a relationship, she kind of lost count. In high school, he was kind of a bully, more so to her geek friends than to her, but she never liked him. Then there was Cassidy.

Dating the boy they called Beaver put Mac firmly in Dick’s line of fire. They snarked at each other, but nothing truly nasty ever got said. The blows traded were never meant to wound, just to glance off at angles. Niggling and annoying, that was what they were to each other, never true enemies, not until after Cassidy died.

It added a new twist to the Mac and Dick dynamic, that was for damn sure. He was such a jerk after the event, and yet, she couldn’t find a way to blame him. He tried to blame her, and it had taken months for them to both realise that they were turning on each other because it was easier than allowing themselves to feel guilty.

The truth of it was, they probably both could’ve done more for Cassidy. Dick could definitely have been nicer when they were growing up, but Mac couldn’t judge. She was pretty heinous to her own little brother sometimes. Maybe she ought to have been a better girlfriend to Cassidy, but by then it was all too late, the damage was done.

It was their second year in college when things had shifted. Shortly before Freshman year ended, Dick had sucked it up and apologised to Mac for his behaviour, only to turn around and try to kiss her. She had been mostly disgusted then, and just a tiny bit flattered, though the shock meant she never let it show. They really hadn’t become friends until after, when Logan skipped town and Veronica found herself pregnant.

Mac and Dick were the loose ends, so to speak, especially as time wore on and Wallace made a life for himself too, leaving town to be a big shot engineer with a wife and a son. Everybody grew up and moved on, even Dick as he suddenly found himself over twenty-one and master of all he surveyed. He and Mac spent time together here and there, mostly because it was a familiar face and somebody who understood. Close wouldn’t be the right word for their friendship. Sometimes months would pass without them seeing each other at all, and yet in a moment of crisis, he would call, she would email. They were a support for each other in an odd way. She was there when some chick screwed him over. He was there when her job stressed her out to the point of walking. It was an odd kind of a friendship. Almost like a sponsor that stopped you from falling off the wagon. When things got rough and there was nowhere else to turn, they had each other to say it was all going to be okay.

Mac still thought she was pretty brave when she walked out on Kane Software. She had landed that job right out of college and worked her way up three levels in the first eight years or so. Then things came to a juddering halt. No more pay rises, no chance to get any higher, and even in today’s enlightened world, colleagues and bosses that liked to make dirty jokes at the I.T. girl’s expense. She had to get out, she just had to, and when they brought in a new level of management over her head, a real idiot who only got the position because his Daddy knew Jake Kane so well, Mac packed up her desk and literally walked away.

Landing a job at Casablancas Enterprises, that was strange. She accused Dick of only doing her a favour and not actually hiring her for her credentials. How he abstained from making a dirty comment at that line, she never did figure out, but he promised so sincerely that he only hired smart people, she couldn’t doubt him. Working there got her the management position she deserved, the corner office, and most of all respect. Mac saw it as a good career move, a pretty brave move, and then last week, six months into her new job, she became a walking cliché.

Sleeping with the boss. Oh, Mac loathed herself for being so dumb, and yet she couldn’t quite find a way to feel bad about the actual ‘sex with Dick’ part. Somehow it was almost as if it had been a long time coming, like she knew one day they would be more than friends. Not that she thought he would see them that way. He probably just thought they were bed buddies now, friends with benefits as people called it. The brave thing to do now would be to face him, ask him, but today was where Mac’s never-ending nerve finally failed her.

It had been a work thing, an anniversary type celebration, and Mac only attended because she felt obligated. She and Dick had been closer lately, it was true. It wasn’t exactly like dating since they hadn’t actually gone out on what one might call a date, but they were definitely closer. He bought her lunch a few times and she returned the favour, even though he kept on reminding her she shouldn’t because he was ‘a gazzillionaire’ as he put it. Then there was that time they stayed late so she could show him how to work the PowerPoint presentation he was struggling with. Kissing Dick had been strange but nice, better than nice. In fact, Mac had spent the rest of night trying to uncurl her toes and get the dumb grin off her face.

Dating was still too strong a word, but Mac certainly wouldn’t have accepted the chance to go out with anybody else after that. Dick was different, awkward at first, probably thinking she was going to slap him for daring to push it with her after all this time. They didn’t really talk about what was happening, they just carried on like the snarky but caring friends they had been for years now, with the added bonus of some really good making out once in a while. He had said he wanted her there for the anniversary party, as his date if she wanted, and though she agreed to go she declined the couple part. Nobody at work could know they were getting closer. It would be way too unprofessional and complicated, but at the party they had at least dared to dance together. Dick danced with most of the women that night, some of his employees wives and a couple of waitresses when he’d had a few drinks. He saved the slow dance for Mac, out on the terrace where no-one could see, so he could kiss her without worrying about the consequences.

Mac got a ride home with Dick that night, and somehow they ended up making out in the back seat like a couple of kids. The driver went straight to the Casablancas home, having been given no instruction to go elsewhere by his oblivious passengers. That was the first and only night the couple spent together.

Now it was Monday, not literally the morning after the night before, but the first in which Mac and Dick might actually have to face each other. Bravery would be great right about now, but Cindy Mackenzie could not find it in herself today. She ducked Dick’s calls, she literally hid when she saw him coming into her department, and as the clock struck four she was all but under her desk in an attempt to keep out of his eyeline.

Some day she was going to have to face Dick and the fact of the sex she had with him the other night, but that day wasn’t today, she was going to make sure of that.

* * *

Veronica looked up from her work when she heard the door open and smiled as her daughter came into the office.

“Hey, sweetheart,” she greeted T.J. “How was school?”

“Big building, lots of kids, a few teachers. Y’know?” She shrugged easily, a smirk on her lips that was pure Echolls - Veronica tried not to react to it.

“Hilarious. You really should be a comedian some day.” She rolled her eyes at her daughter’s joke. “Maybe I shouldn’t tell you the good news about your birthday party if you’re going to be that way,” she considered as she got up from her desk with papers in her hands to file.

“What? What about my party? Did you talk to Logan?” asked T.J., all of a flutter when it came to her sweet sixteen.

She wasn’t the most girly girl in the world, but she had her moments. Teresa Jane was a lot like Veronica that way, and it made the blonde smile to realise it. Equal parts her and Logan in one package. Right now it was hard to see how everybody hadn’t called her on it when she proclaimed Leo to be the father of her little girl. Anyone with eyes ought to be able to see the truth.

“Yes, I talked to Logan,” she said, putting paperwork away into carefully alphabetised folders at her filing cabinet, whilst T.J. continued to bounce a little on her heels. “We worked things out, made all the arrangements. Looks like you’re having the big houseparty bash that you wanted, Teresa.” She smiled then, closing the drawer and turning to face her properly.

“Did I mention that you’re the best mom ever sometimes?” T.J. grinned, hugging her mother.

Veronica resisted asking ‘Only sometimes?’ as she might’ve done before. She knew her failings in parenthood well enough, thank you very much. Now would be a very bad time to bring it up again. T.J. looked so happy when she flung her arms around Veronica, and yet when they parted a moment later, there was a troubled look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, T.J.?” she asked with genuine concern.

“I just... Is it weird?” she checked then, having to explain when Veronica continued to look baffled. “I mean, it’s completely freaky to me still that I have this other father, but it’s gotta be weird for you too, right? Spending time with Logan?”

Veronica let out a breath she hardly knew she’d been holding. Honestly, for a moment there, she thought T.J. was worried about something far worse. Her feelings couldn’t matter as much as her daughter’s own, they just couldn’t.

“It is odd, to say the least,” Veronica admitted, sitting down on the front edge of the desk. “Especially in that house. Lot of mixed up memories,” she said with a sigh. “Plus I’m not sure if his being reasonable about all this actually makes me feel more or less guilty,” she stopped talking when she realised she was now off on a tangent and only making T.J. uncomfortable. “It’s worth it.” She smiled then. “It’s worth spending time with Logan, no matter how weird it feels, if it makes you happy, Teresa. It’s all I really want.” She shrugged her shoulders then, fighting tears she didn’t want to shed, not again.

“You know I love you, right?” said T.J. with a look only a daughter could give her mother in such a moment.

“I love you too,” she replied just the same way, the sappy moment broken when there was a tap on the already open door and Leo walked in.

“Hey, Dad,” his daughter greeted him as she ordinarily would, not even considering the fact she had just been talking about her real father. “How’d you know I was here?” she frowned suddenly.

“Actually, that’s just a nice surprise.” The Sheriff smiled at her. “I actually came to talk to Veronica. Work stuff.” he admitted with an apologetic look and a file of papers in his hand for his ex-wife.

“Don’t be sorry,” she told him ushering him further into the office. “Work is money and money pays the rent. I don’t complain about that.”

“Money pays for parties too.” T.J. grinned. “Oh, I have to go call Sam and tell her it’s totally on at the Echolls house!” she realised all of a sudden. “See you guys later,” she called to both her parents, before rushing out of the room.

“Don’t slam the.... door,” Veronica’s sentence became both disjointed and pointless as the office door clanged shut behind her daughter. “Seriously? How is the glass still in that thing?” she asked, mostly rhetorically and with a shake of her head.

Leo handed over the file to her without really thinking and stared back over his shoulder at the closed door through which T.J has just passed. He was so confused right now, and though he hated to ask the question, he just had to.

“Did she really just say she was having a party at the Echolls house?” he checked with Veronica.

Over the top of the glasses she had recently had to start wearing for reading, Veronica glanced up at Leo. She knew it would hurt him hearing this, but she had to explain. As usual, timing had just wrecked a carefully constructed plan. If he had arrived just five minutes later, he would not have had T.J. practically skipping the dance of joy over her party and revealing the one detail Veronica had hoped to break to him gently.

“Yeah,” she said awkwardly, taking off her glasses then. “Logan offered and... and I couldn’t refuse, Leo, I just couldn’t,” she explained. “T.J. wanted it so much and Logan-”

“No, it’s fine. I get it,” he waved away her awkwardness and his own pain with a vague hand gesture. “I had sixteen years of being her father, Logan should have his turn,” he said, ever the adult.

Veronica couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips as she explained those were just the words Logan himself had used, albeit in a nastier tone. They were both just as right as each other though. If Logan wanted to be a father to his daughter, they couldn’t stand in his way. They had done so for long enough, as unfair as that had been. It would be beyond wrong to keep it up now.

“Are you really okay?” she asked, getting up from her seat and coming around the desk to his side.

Leo looked and felt anything but fine and they both knew it. Trouble was he had brought this on himself in many ways, they both had. Living with consequences was a bitch but it was the rules of the world that they knew all too well. Do the crime, do the time, it was as true for them as for any criminal. They had kept a father and daughter apart for sixteen years, and now any pain they suffered was their own fault. They must bear it as best they could and not complain - they had no right to do anything else.

“We really screwed up, didn’t we?” he asked, with a brave smile despite the words he said.

“I don’t know.” Veronica shrugged her shoulders, moving in to share a hug with the ex she still loved on some level and always would. “I think we did okay, considering the circumstances.” She smiled as much as she could manage.

Leo hugged her close a few moments and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He never would stop loving this woman for as long as he lived, even if he was pretty sure she would be back in Logan Echolls’ arms before too long. Some things were just destined to be, and that relationship seemed to be one of them.


	21. Chapter 21

T.J. D’Amato could not stop smiling, which was as it should be on the day of a girl’s sixteenth birthday. The banner across the living room wished her a happy day and all her favourite people were sat underneath it. Mom and Dad, Grandpa Keith, Aunt Mac, and her BFF Sam. T.J. wasn’t sure she could be any happier as she unwrapped her new stereo and clothes and all. Not that it was all about the gifts. She was actually pretty happy to have her parents in the same room, Leo’s arm round Veronica’s shoulders, and everybody just getting along like it used to be.

Of course, T.J. was no fool. She knew life was never all smiles and happy ever afters for long. Her folks were still divorced, her dad wasn’t even her dad, and there were a lot of things about her past and her future that T.J. still had to wrap her head around. Right here in this moment, she didn’t care though. Today was her special day, everyone kept reminding her of that, and she was going to enjoy it, no matter what.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” said Veronica, hurrying to the bookshelf and producing an envelope. “This came yesterday.” She smiled, handing it over.

T.J. was pretty sure she recognised the hand-writing as she turned over the card and read the return address. Yes, it was from Uncle Wallace in New York. Tearing into the envelope, she grinned at the personalised card and all the wider at the cash that spilled out of it onto the floor.

“Geez, Mom! When did Uncle Wallace rob a bank?” T.J. asked with wide eyes as she scooped the hundred dollar bill up off the floor.

“I really don’t know.” The blonde looked equally confused as she eyed the money and then read her daughter’s card over her shoulder.

In it, the message said that Wallace was so proud to call T.J. his niece, even if they weren’t blood. He thought of her as such, and he missed her and her mother so much since he moved away. It was shocking for him to realise she was sixteen now, and he wanted to buy her the best gift, but since he had no idea what she’d be into and sending gifts in the mail could be pricey anyway, he just sent the cash. T.J. was to tell Veronica not to judge him for trusting a Benjamin to the US Postal service. It was his money after all. Besides this was for family, and he’d take any risk for that.

Veronica felt so dumb for the tears in her eyes when T.J. read her card aloud then. All the love Wallace had for her daughter, more than most real uncles ever would, despite the fact he was so many miles away these days. She really needed to call him more often, even visit sometime soon.

“I miss Wallace.” Mac sighed as she began collecting up all the fallen wrapping paper for the recycling bin.

“He’s a good guy, no doubt about that,” Keith agreed as he moved to help her.

With T.J. and Sam in deep conversation over what the hundred dollars from Uncle Wallace may or may not be spent on, and Veronica rushing off to find tissue for the make-up about to leak all over her face, that left Leo as the only available body to answer the door when the bell rang a moment later. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been all that surprised when opening it revealed Logan Echolls.

“Huh. It’s you,” said the Sheriff, the smile falling off his face in an instant.

“Last time I checked,” Logan replied with a smirk he couldn’t help, but that look was gone again in a second. “Look, man, I’m not here to make trouble,” he assured the guy that had raised his daughter behind his back. “Now, I have every reason to be mad at you, and I guess you can hate me pretty easy too, given how things were with me and Veronica,” he said, all adult and sensible in a way even Logan didn’t really know he could be until he had to do it. “Fact is, it’s T.J.’s birthday and I have a right to see her, and bring her a gift-”

“I know.” Leo nodded once, stepping aside to let the other guy in. “I don’t have any right to stop you,” he agreed, stepping in close the moment Logan breached the threshhold, “but I can say this, I love Teresa Jane as if she were my daughter. Father or not, if you ever, ever hurt her, I’ll see to it it’s the last thing you do. I don’t care how many million you have or how long I spend in jail either,” he added, when Logan turned to meet his eyes.

“If I really screwed up that bad,” he answered in a voice just as low and dangerous, “I’ll let you beat my ass down for free, Sheriff.”

With that he breezed on by, a smile on his face a mile wide as he stepped into the living room, arms wide in an over-the-top greeting. He started singing Happy Birthday at the top of his voice as the others laughed and joined in just because they could. It was T.J.’s day and nobody was going to start a fight, not today of all days.

“Hey.” She smiled as she stood up from the couch and faced her biological father. “Um, I didn’t know you were coming over,” she said, shifting awkwardly, not sure whether she was supposed to hug the guy or not, or even if she wanted to.

“It’s your birthday.” Logan shrugged, explanation enough as far as he was concerned. “And I, uh... I got you a gift,” he admitted, pulling a small box from his back pocket. “It’s not expensive or anything. From what I’ve seen, you’re like your mom, not big into flashy jewellery and all. Plus, Heaven forbid I should be accused of buying anyone’s affections,” he said, trying to smile through it, but there was a definite pointed look at Keith then.

T.J. wasn’t paying attention, not to her Grandpa throwing a dirty look at Logan, or Leo hovering awkwardly in the background. She didn’t even notice Sam drooling on the carpet beside her as she opened up her gift, the first ever from her real dad. Inside the velvet-lined jewellery box sat a thin silver-coloured chain, with a medium-side pendant threaded on it. It was in the shape of the number sixteen, and one small white stone, perhaps even a diamond, shone out from the centre.

“It’s beautiful, thank you,” she said sincerely, looking up at Logan. “I really love it.”

“Let me see that,” said Veronica stepping into the room then.

Logan tried not to react as she came in, breezing past him to get to her daughter’s side and look down at the pendant in the box. It was sweet and entirely subtle for a Logan-type gift, the kind of thing he would never buy for just anyone. Actually, this was just the sort of gift he might’ve bought for her once upon a time, knowing she preferred the simple thoughtful gift over big, flashy, and expensive stuff.

“Oh,” she gasped as she picked up the pendant in her hand and turned it over.

Down the back of the number one, Teresa was engraved, and Jane on the six. Personalised, special. Yes, this was a genuine from-the-heart gift that Logan picked out himself, not sent a flunky on an errand. Veronica was stunned by how easily she teared up when she noticed.

“That’s so cool,” T.J. smiled all the wider. “Thank you, Logan,” she said, reaching out to hug him then.

It was a brief and awkward moment, but it made Mac smile as she watched, and even Keith couldn’t really hold in a happy look. It was only right and proper for father and daughter to know each other now, and so much the better if they got along. Keith felt sorry for Leo, whether he had done wrong or not, but so long as Logan wasn’t upsetting T.J. or Veronica, he guessed he could get used to the guy being around now.

“And don’t start worrying that this is an alternate gift,” said Logan then, as Veronica helped her put on her new pendant. “The party is still on.” He grinned.

“Personally, I can’t wait.” Samantha sighed giddily, as T.J. rolled her eyes.

“C’mon, Sam,” she urged her friend, grabbing hold of her wrist to drag her away from Logan. “Let’s set up my new stereo,” she encouraged her.

Mac thought about offering her assistance but soon changed her mind. As Leo came back into the room, falling into conversation with Veronica and Keith, she realised Logan must feel very much like the spare wheel. That wasn’t fair. He belonged here more than most and yet he had been pushed out so long. That didn’t work for her at all.

“So, Mac,” he said, on realising she was there beside him, and the only one to be so. “How’re things with you and my old BFF Dick?” he asked conversationally.

Oh yeah, now Mac remembered why she should’ve left the guy alone after all.

“Awkward with a side of panic,” she admitted, neither of them even looking at each other as they spoke, but pretending to be interested in the CDs and DVDs T.J. had piled near the coffee table. “Um, did he say anything to you about what happened at all?”

Logan tried not to smirk at that. Mac really hadn’t changed much. She’d stopped putting the coloured streaks in her hair and lost a little of the teen attitude from her clothes, but that was all. She was still the same on the inside, a little insecure about guys, despite how smart she was about almost everything else.

“Y’know, thanks to The Bro Code I really can’t tell you that,” he pointed out, wondering a moment why his daughter had a movie he knew to be a bad remake of his own work, “but I will say that I’m pretty sure he’s not screwing around, Mac. I don’t ever think he’d do that with you,” he said sincerely as they finally looked at each other.

“That’s what I hoped for,” she admitted with a genuine smile, letting out a breath she hardly knew she’d been holding this whole time. “So, how’s the movie star life?” she asked, turning into him a little.

“It has its perks,” he admitted, “but... y’know, it’s not everything it could be,” he told her, staring across at T.J. as she laughed with Sam and Veronica then.

Mac looked between Logan and his daughter. She felt his pain, she knew what it was to be lied to and not know your real family. Of all people, she understood, even if Logan wouldn’t know why. 

“For what it’s worth,” she got his attention again when she spoke, “I never agreed with their decision,” she whispered, knowing now was so not the time to accidentally start another battle. “It just really wasn’t my secret to tell.”

“I don’t blame you, Mac,” Logan assured her with a sigh, running his hand back over his hair, “or Wallace, or whoever else that knew. Honestly, I don’t even blame Veronica and Leo right now,” he told her honestly. “Seriously, Mac, do you think I could’ve been a decent father back then?” he asked her with a look as he leaned back into the couch cushions with his hands behind his head.

Cindy Mackenzie did not know how to answer that question. It was clear enough that Logan himself did not believe he could’ve stepped up to the mark back them. Mac was pretty sure he would’ve tried, but maybe he was right, maybe it wouldn’t’ve worked out. Of course, things were very different sixteen years later.

“So, how about now?” she asked, leaning in a little only so no-one else would hear. “You think you can do this now? Be a good father?”

“Hardest role I ever landed,” he admitted, shaking his head. “But I’m gonna try, Mac. I seriously am.”

“I believe that.” Mac nodded definitely. “In fact, I-” she stopped short of saying anymore when there was a knock on the door.

With the others messing around with the stereo that was making a lot of noise, it was doubtful anyone else even heard. Logan looked half way to terrified, and Mac could see why. A movie star in his ex’s home, visiting the long lost daughter nobody outside of the house was really meant to know about. That could not lead to any good if strangers came a-knocking.

“I’ll go,” said Mac, practically having to climb over Logan to escape the room with so much stuff and people on the floor.

The former nerd checked through the glass by the door and saw only one fuzzy figure. That was somewhat of a relief, but she still didn’t know who was calling by until she opened it. In fact, Mac didn’t know who was there even after she had opened the door.

“Hi.” She smiled at the young man in front of her.

“Oh, hi. Um... is this...? I was looking for T.J.,” he rambled some, making Mac want to giggle.

She never saw a guy that she figured on being a PCHer look so nervous and stammery. Of course, judging a book by its cover was strictly prohibited in Neptune, because more often than not you were wrong.

“You have the right house,” she confirmed, turning and calling to her ‘niece’ that she had a visitor.

When T.J. came over to the door it was with a huge grin and definite blush the moment she spotted Antonio. Mac shifted away without a word and left the young people to it, turning Logan away the moment he tried to come close. Teenagers who clearly like each other require alone time, that was just the way it was.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” T.J. asked her friend. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.” She giggled, literally face palming when she realised how it sounded.

“It’s okay.” He laughed too then. “I, uh... I brought you a gift. Happy Birthday.” He smiled, handing over the box in his hands.

“Oh, thanks,” she replied, though somehow didn’t look pleased at all. “You’re not coming to my party?” she asked, stepping out onto the porch and pulling the door not quite close behind her.

She could use her family not eavesdropping right now. Besides, she had told Sam that white lie about Antonio and her spending time last weekend. Less questions would be better than more right now.

“I’m totally there for your party. Absolutely,” Antonio told T.J. fast. “I mean, of course. I just wanted you to have this before is all,” he gestured towards the fairly flat box as yet unopened in her hands.

Smiling again now, she prised the lid off and peered inside. Antonio watched her expression so carefully she could almost feel his eyes burning into her, and yet she couldn’t mind.

“A photo album,” she said, seemingly happy about the gift that had a 16 on the front in glitter.

“I know, it’s lame,” Antonio looked pained as he spoke then. “I didn’t really know what you’d like, and then I thought, well, you have so much family and then with your party tonight, you’d probably have a lot of pictures-”

“Antonio, seriously, breathe,” she urged him when she looked up and saw him turning colours. “It’s a really great gift. I love it,” she told him, going up on her toes for all of a second to plant a kiss on his cheek.

There was a moment when they lingered close together, when T.J. almost thought she’d done a very stupid thing. She had told him she had no interest in dating right now, and yet they were close enough to kiss for real and she almost wouldn’t mind.

A car horn blasting made the unlikely couple practically leap apart then. Antonio looked back over his shoulder and waved a hand in a ‘wait a second’ gesture.

“That’s Weevil.” He sighed. “I gotta go.”

“It’s okay.” T.J. smiled. “I’ll see you tonight, and thank you again for my gift.”

“You’re welcome,” Antonio told her as he backed away off the porch, almost tripping down the steps.

T.J. headed back inside after a quick wave goodbye, and immediately Sam ran over to ask what had happened. Veronica came over too, taking a good look at the gift from her daughter’s new ‘friend’.

“This is from Antonio, huh? Very thoughtful,” she said, sharing a knowing look with Leo.

“Who is this Antonio anyway?” asked Logan curiously as everyone ended up back in the living room.

“Nobody,” said T.J. fast, but Veronica couldn’t help but have a little fun, even if it was cruel.

“He’s a friend of T.J.’s from school,” she explained. “His Mom is pretty much engaged to Weevil, if I recall.”

Logan couldn’t answer that and he didn’t need to in order to make his feelings very clear. The look on his face was just a picture for all to behold!


	22. Chapter 22

Antonio Juarez felt stupid; really, very stupid, as he stood in front of the full length mirror in his mom’s bedroom in his third outfit. He was a guy for God’s sake, he was just supposed to throw on a pair of pants and shirt and go to a party without even thinking about it. Right now, that was proving impossible. Maybe it was because he was headed to one of the biggest, fanciest houses in the 09er zip. Maybe it was because this was the first major party he had been to in this town since arriving here. Somehow Antonio knew it was neither of these things or the other one hundred and one excuses he could try to come up with. The truth was, he was this nervous and pathetic right now because of a girl.

“She’s just a chick, man. Get over it,” he told his reflection, forcing himself to turn away and get his butt downstairs already.

Thankfully it hadn’t taken much for Weevil to agree to lend him his car for the night. The bike still wasn’t properly fixed up yet, and Mom had a problem with Antonio riding in the dark until he was proficient anyway. She also didn’t want her baby boy drinking tonight, most especially when she found out he was driving himself. Weevil had said that if he really wanted one beer that was okay, but absolutely no more or else. He wasn’t so naive as to think the party would be completely dry, never mind the fact the Sheriff would be there and a few other more than responsible adults. At the very least, some bright spark would try to spike the punch, at least if the kids these days were anything like in Weevil’s time.

“You look wonderful, Antonio,” his mother told him as he hovered by the front door, checking his pockets for his keys and wallet.

“Thanks,” he muttered, feeling kind of dumb. “Just the first thing I pulled outta the closet.” He shrugged.

“Hey, man, one thing before you go,” said Weevil as he appeared behind Lena in the kitchen doorway. “You watch your back up there in the hills. I know they just rich white boys, but anybody can be outnumbered, you know?”

“It’ll be cool.” The teen nodded his head. “I’ll see you later.”

He left then, but Weevil stood for a long moment staring after him. It made Lena worry even more than she should about her son.

“He will be fine, Eli,” she insisted. “Things are better now than when we were young,” she told him, wrapping her arms around him.

“Yeah, I’d like to think so.” He sighed, hugging her back and looking down into her eyes then. “What say you and me make the most of having this house all to ourselves for a while?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye that she knew all too well.

Lena laughed as if she were the teen only Eli could make her feel like, as they hurried up the stairs one behind the other. He made her so happy, and she loved him so much.

* * *

By the time Antonio arrived at the Echolls house, the party was in full swing. The music could be heard from the driveway, a pounding beat that he would swear was making his car shake even from here. Lights flashed like a disco out of the side windows, and it seemed like everybody was having a great time. This wasn’t his scene, not really. He was almost guaranteed to be the only brown dude here, but it couldn’t matter. He wanted to see T.J., wanted to make sure she was having a good time on her special day. She had invited him, she had to want him here, no matter what Samantha Harper or anyone else might think.

Heading inside, it was impossible to find the birthday girl amongst all the people. A few of the taller kids were obvious to him, and the adults could be picked out by their very different clothes. The Sheriff was on one side of the dance floor with his father in law, who also used to be the law once, and was now a PI. He spotted T.J.’s mom over by the stairs with the dark-haired woman who had answered the door earlier today. Somewhere, the great Logan Echolls himself was probably lurking but Antonio didn’t care to find out where. After all, meeting a rich white movie star wasn’t what he was here for, and after the tales Weevil had told, Antonio couldn’t exactly like the guy anyway, T.J.’s dad or not.

“You’re here,” the very girl on his mind appeared beside him then. “I was starting to wonder if you weren’t gonna show,” said T.J. with a grin.

She was so damn beautiful, Antonio couldn’t answer her for a whole thirty seconds. Some of her hair was clipped up with some down loose, and she wore a sparkling shirt and tight black pants. If this were a fairytale, she would definitely be a modern day princess, but Antonio felt like a real unworthy prince.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he told her after too long a pause. “I, uh... You look great,” he admitted then, having to yell to be heard over the music.

It was clear she could hardly tell what he was saying but wanted to. Antonio took it as a very good sign when she dragged him by the sleeve into the next room where it was much quieter.

“Wow,” she gasped as she shut the door. “I mean, I love my party, I really do, but the sound system here is way more intense than I thought.” She laughed as she faced her friend. “What were you trying to say out there?”

“Just that you look great,” Antonio repeated, feeling all the more dumb about it now they were alone. “Beautiful, actually.”

T.J. didn’t know where to look then. Her eyes flicked from the floor to the wall and back around as she shifted awkwardly in her high heels. She didn’t dress up much, she didn’t have a reason to. She wasn’t rich enough to be invited to 09er parties, and the kinds her friends tended to have were sedate at best. Besides, even when she did get her fancy on, the only people who told her she was beautiful was her parents, never a guy like Antonio Juarez.

“Thank you,” she mumbled. “You look good too,” she said lamely, immediately laughing at herself for the comment. “Uh, thank you again for my gift before,” she changed the subject quickly and deliberately.

“No problem,” he replied, hands in his pockets, staring at her from six feet away and neither of them apparently wishing to get any closer.

It was then that the door opened on the other side of the room and T.J. physically winced, sure it would be Sam about to make a fool out of her. She got a genuine shock when she realised she was wrong.

“Hey, Logan.” She frowned as she greeted him. “Where have you been this whole time?” she asked curiously.

“Avoiding your friend Samantha,” he admitted, “and any other girls... and boys actually, that think I’m a commodity / sex toy rather than a person.”

“Eew!” T.J. looked disgusted at the very idea, and Logan couldn’t help but smirk at her attitude.

As impossible as it was, she might’ve been Lilly Kane in that moment. The presence of a supposed PCHer in the room didn’t exactly help with the imagery either.

“And who do we have here?” he asked politely as possible, reigning in the glare he so wanted to give any guy that might be alone in a room with is sixteen year old daughter.

“This is Antonio, who we talked about before,” said T.J. with a looked that screamed ‘do not embarrass me or else’. “He’s a friend.”

“Ah, yes, Antonio.” Logan smiled like a crocodile somehow as he extended a hand to the boy. “How’s my old buddy Weevil Navarro these days? I’ll bet he sent his best regards for me, huh?”

“Somethin’ like that.” He nodded as he shook Logan’s hand. “But y’know whatever history you have with my mom’s boyfriend is just that, sir. History.”

It didn’t surprise Logan that Eli had been telling tales about him to the kid. What did make him sit up and take notice was Antonio’s attitude. It was clear he had no wish to take sides between old rivals. He had respect for his step-father to be, but at the same time, he was finding some for Logan too. Maybe he really did like T.J. a lot if he was willing to do that.

“Well, you kids should get back to the party,” he said as he released Antonio’s hand. “You’re only sixteen once, T.J. Better enjoy it.”

She smiled in agreement and ushered Antonio out of the door ahead of her, the two men saying it was nice to have met each other. It was clear neither exactly meant it but they said it anyway. T.J. stoped at the door and looked back at Logan then.

“Was life really so good when you were sixteen?” she asked in earnest.

For the life of him, Logan couldn’t bear to lie to her.

“Some parts of it were,” he told her genuinely. “Honestly? Mostly the parts with your mom.”

T.J. nodded and found a real smile for that comment that she hadn’t expected to come onto her lips. She didn’t say anything though, just disappeared back into the crowd of dancing teens that were her friends and school mates. Logan watched her go and then shifted his view to two women his own age across the room. Mac looked as good as always, but it was still Veronica that took his breath away. Though she was well into her thirties by now, Logan could still see the girl of sixteen that he had so easily fallen in love with. He could just let the world slip away and time wind back until this was one of his own high school parties and she was his girlfriend. Too bad it was all just a daydream now, part of a long lost past he couldn’t ever get back.

“You did good, Echolls,” said a voice beside him then.

Logan started at the sound of such a compliment, especially when he realised who had spoken those words.

“Thank you, Sheriff,” he nodded towards Leo, a smirk on his lips that couldn’t be helped. “Gotta say, you didn’t do so bad yourself. You and Veronica brought up my daughter pretty well considering.”

Leo knew there was a hidden barb in the compliment tossed back at him, but he didn’t bite. It wouldn’t do any good to start a fight at T.J.’s party, or at all, truth be told. He meant what he said about Logan doing well in helping throw this party for their girl. She wanted this so much and looked so thrilled to be here. At the same time, it did hurt to know he was slowly being replaced, even if he never had any right to play Daddy to the girl in the first place.

“I hope you boys are playing nicely,” said Veronica as she she wandered over, her tone half way between joking and serious.

“Would we ever be doing anything else?” asked Logan, snarky as ever.

“And I’m not going to answer that,” she responded in kind, a grin on her face that she couldn’t quite help.

When she looked past her ex then to talk to Leo, she realised he had slipped out the door and was gone. That caused her smile to fade and Logan immediately noticed. Leo hurting was pain for Veronica by proxy. She didn’t love him enough to stay married to him apparently, but Logan knew she did care about people like that, no matter how hard she often made herself seem. Logan still held onto some hope that feelings for him existed inside Miss Mars somewhere. In theory, they had to, after all, their tale was meant to be epic, and they did share a child.

“C’mon,” he said, grabbing her hand.

“What are you doing?” asked Veronica with evident surprise, though she didn’t exactly try to get away.

“Dancing with the most beautiful woman at the party,” he answered seriously as he pulled her out onto the terrace.

“Logan,” she sighed, taking her hand away from him then. “The party is inside, not out here, and besides, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Well, we could dance inside amongst all the sixteen year olds,” he considered, “but first off, I think that’d embarrass T.J., and second, I’m assuming you don’t want to give the Neptune alumni any more reason to start rumours than they already have.”

Veronica kept getting herself into these arguments with Logan that she couldn’t possibly win. It was aggravating as hell, and yet at the same time, she loved the feeling, as well as the reminder of how they used to be together. Love ran as deep as it could between them back in the day, but they couldn’t help but snipe and snark at one another, it was just their way.

When Logan reached for her hand again, Veronica let herself be pulled into his arms. It was strange, but not in a bad way as her own arms had nowhere to go but around his shoulders, and his hands came to rest at her waist. They swayed to the slow song that was now playing, as so many teens took to the floor with their own romantic partners. Veronica could almost let herself believe she was sixteen herself when she looked up and met Logan’s eyes. He certainly wasn’t any less hot than he had been when they were younger. Still just as funny and smart and charming. Fame didn’t seem to have ruined him at all, but then he had always been rich and pretty well-known, so the change can’t have been that hard to make. Here she was in his arms, still the same Veronica in some ways, still in Neptune, making her living as a PI, and all. In other ways she was very different. She had been forced to grow up at an alarming rate when Teresa Jane came along. She had been married, divorced, and now reunited with the ex she never   
expected to come home.

“Y’know, of all the fancy parties and dinners and premieres I’ve been to over the years,” said Logan then, “this is my favourite.”

Veronica smiled at that, ducking her head out of embarrassment. Sure, Logan probably meant it was because of T.J. too, but the look in his eyes proved she was a part of his reasoning.

“Clearly when it comes to party planning we make a good team,” she said softly.

“We were always a good team, when we remembered why we should play on the same side,” he said thoughtfully. “Actually, together, I thought we were pretty much unstoppable.”

“Logan...” There was a warning in Veronica’s voice then as she looked up and met his eyes.

“Let me finish, Veronica,” he urged her. “I’m not about to yell about not being allowed to know T.J. before and I’m not going to get down on one knee and beg to be your second try at marriage,” he assured her. “I just... I want you to know that I really did love you back then, and the whole time I was gone you were always on my mind. Now I’m back here, and seeing you again, I know for sure that I never... I never got over you, Veronica,” he told her genuinely.

They had stopped moving during his impassioned speech, and yet they had gotten that much closer together somehow. Veronica suddenly remembered why breathing was something she needed to be doing, but barely got he chance as Logan’s lips came down to meet hers. It lasted all of a second, and could barely even be counted as a kiss, when a crash in the distance had them diving apart.

Veronica saw Logan’s security guards man-handling someone blond and familiar, and apparently drunk. Then she heard the same man call her best friend’s name.

“Damnit,” Logan muttered as noticed these same things. “Veronica, maybe you should go ask Mac if she can come talk to my good buddy Dick. I have a feeling he’s pretty desperate for a conversation.”


	23. Chapter 23

“Dick, will you just calm down!” Mac begged him, as she desperately tried to get him to be quiet.

“Dude! Awesome party!” The blond laughed too loudly as Logan pushed his friend gently back down into the chair he was trying to scramble out of the next moment.

“This is ridiculous.” Veronica shook her head, shutting the second of three doors to the side room they were all stuffed into.

There was no way any of the sober adults here wanted T.J.’s party affected by a drunken Dick Casablancas. Unfortunately, it seemed that the guy in question really hadn’t changed much when it came to the drinking. Alcohol turned him back into the loud obnoxious mess he used to be as a teen, despite the fact he was well in his thirties.

Veronica stood with her arms folded, surveying the scene, Logan and Mac trying to keep Dick from yelling and or flailing about any more than was necessary, whilst she herself stood guard of the doors, trying to make sure the party wasn’t in any way spoilt. When one of the doors to the room opened she turned to snap at whoever was there for barging in, but stopped short when she realised it wasn’t anyone she recognised.

“Amy, you’re an angel,” Logan told the mousy looking blonde as she walked right over and handed him a steaming mug of black coffee.

“Just doing my job.” She smiled too much, and then was gone, talking into the headset she wore, presumably to the security on the perimeter.

Veronica had to admire the younger woman for being so organised, so in control and all. There were definite similarities between the two of them, and not just in the way they handled things, but a little in looks too, except Amy was younger and prettier. Veronica put the thought out of her head fast and turned her attention back to where Mac was trying to pretty much pour the coffee down Dick’s throat.

Of all the things that could have gone wrong tonight, Veronica really hadn’t seen a drunk Casablancas coming! It was strange, but the dance with Logan on the terrace, that kiss they shared, that had been less of a surprise. It felt wrong to even think it. Veronica knew she didn’t deserve Logan to care about her at all, not after everything, and going back down that road with him after so many years was bound to be carnage. Still, looking at him now, her fingers going absently to her lips, she couldn’t help but dream.

“I’m sorry, Macky,” Dick was telling Mac when Veronica’s brain came back to reality with a jolt. “I just, I wanted to talk to you and it was like you just didn’t wanna see me, and I’m not good with that, with knowing how to handle stuff.”

“It’s fine, Dick,” she assured him, shooting a look at Logan that made him walk away - clearly privacy was required. “It’s not just your fault,” the computer genius admitted, pushing her hair back behind her ear in some kind of nervous gesture. “I... I don’t know how to handle it either, but hitting the bottle? So not the way to go,” she advised, glad to at least have made him laugh then, though maybe it might’ve been better if he wasn’t drinking coffee at the time.

“Ah, young love,” said Logan with a pointed look as he rejoined Veronica across the room. “You okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” she replied too fast, nodding overly much. “I should get back to the party, check on T.J., since this is all under control.”

She was gone before Logan could hardly process it, and Amy was back by his side before he could give chase.

“The perimeter remains secure, Logan,” she told him. “Nobody really saw Mr Casablancas clearly enough to identify him, and those that might’ve wouldn’t realise who he was. Thank goodness for the oblivious nature of partying teens.” She smiled.

“Yeah.” Logan nodded absently, his eyes still on the door through which Veronica had passed. “You remember your sweet sixteen, Amy?” he asked then, turning his attention fully to his indispensable assistant.

“Sure.” She smiled even wider then, hugging her tablet computer to her chest. “It wasn’t a big deal like this, but Mom and Dad made it special. All my friends were there and... and I got my first kiss that night.” She giggled, blushing a pretty pink.

Logan smiled at how cute she was sometimes, and then his expression hardened. Girls of sixteen, no matter how innocent and sweet, got kissed eventually. T.J. certainly seemed to like this Antonio person a lot. Whilst Logan had nothing against the boy in particular, especially since he was Weevil’s almost-step-son rather than his flesh and blood, he still wasn’t overly enthralled with the idea of the baby girl he had just discovered being preyed upon by any young man.

“You really shouldn’t worry about Teresa Jane,” Amy told him suddenly, having learnt to read his expressions so very well over the years. “She has plenty of people looking out for her,” she reminded the clearly concerned father.

“She is lucky that way.” Logan forced a happy expression, even as he thought back to his own teen years, how he and Veronica only had one truly decent parent between them back then.

Though he hadn’t been there for T.J. up to now, at least he had a chance to change things going forward. Plus, Amy was right, when push came to shove, his daughter did have a lot of family and friends looking over her shoulder, and capable of protecting her in all kind of ways too. Somehow, with her genetics, Logan did wonder if she really needed all that help.

* * *

“Oh my God, why does Logan keep running away from me?” asked Samantha with a huge sigh.

“Maybe because you’re stalking him like a crazy person?” her BFF pointed out as kindly as she could. “Seriously, Sam, let it go,” she advised. “It’s not gonna happen... thank God!” she added the last part quietly, and was pretty sure Sam never heard.

It was a crazy situation, having your best friend fawn all over your father this way, but then T.J. had heard more than one girl, and a couple of guys, squeal over the fact they were partying in the Echolls house. This was just how it was when you had a movie star for a father, she supposed, but it was going to get a little old if Sam didn’t turn down the enthusiasm soon. It was clear Logan had better standards than to go with a sixteen year old, and for that T.J. cold not be more grateful, especially given the tales she remembered hearing on TV about the man she now knew would’ve been her grandfather...

“Ugh, that biker is staring again!” Sam made a face of disgust.

Sure enough when T.J. looked over she realised that although Antonio was dancing with another girl now, his eyes belonged to her alone. It was flattering and embarrassing all at the same time, and her stomach flipped over when she met his gaze between the dancing bodies of her friends and acquaintances. It was so impractical for her to be falling for a guy right now, there was already too much emotional trauma going on in her life, and yet T.J. was quickly forgetting to care.

“Sam,” she said then, turning her eyes back to her friend’s scowling face. “We need to talk,” she told the girl, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the hallway where it was somewhat quieter.

“Geez, T.J., what is your childhood trauma?” asked Sam, rubbing her wrist as soon as T.J. let up her grip.

“I didn’t pull that hard.” Her friend rolled her eyes. “But we need to have a serious conversation here. Now, you know I love you like a sister, but your attitude about Antonio and his friends? Kinda sucks, Sam.”

“They’re just stupid biker types.” She shrugged like it was no big deal.

“They’re people, Sam! Now, I don’t know if this is a class thing,” T.J. went on, “or... or a racist thing...”

“Oh my God, you did not just accuse me of that!” Sam all but exploded, lowering her tone immediately she realised they might be overheard but just about anybody. “I cannot believe you just said that. You know I would kill to be the next Cameron Diaz - hello, she’s half-Cuban!”

“Sam, I wasn’t... I’m sorry, okay?” T.J. back-pedalled, really not wanting her best friendship to fall apart over this, but also knowing how important it was for her to say what she needed to say. “The fact is I really like Antonio, I mean I _really_ like him,” she admitted.

“I figured since you’ve been spending alone time with him already.” Sam rolled her eyes, referring to last Saturday when of course T.J. hadn’t seen the guy at all, but that was a whole other thing.

“Well, then can you please stop making a big deal out of it?” T.J. urged her with a desperate tone and look. “I don’t want to play referee between you two if I... if we...” she made vague gestures back towards the party, and if Sam didn’t know her better she’d be completely confused.

As it was she was entirely clear on her BFF’s inability to come out and say certain things, mostly when it came to guys. It was one area where she was inexperienced and a little naive. Sam thought it was as adorable as it was annoying sometimes.

“You’re serious,” she realised all at once. “You really do like him, like, a lot.”

“Really do.” T.J. giggled just because she couldn’t help it. “Please don’t mess this up for me, Sam. I so wanna... I don’t know, I wanna get to know him. I wanna... have a boyfriend,” she admitted, “and I want it to be Antonio.”

Sam couldn’t help but grin at that as she squealed with joy and then started hugging the heck out of her friend.

“It’s your sweet sixteen, Teej,” she told her giddily when they parted. “You get whatever you want tonight. So go get your chico.”

Sometimes Sam still had the ability to surprise T.J. it seemed, as she took herself back into the party and threw herself into dancing with the next guy that asked her. By the time the birthday girl got back out there she realised Logan was in the room again, and no doubt Sam had some crazy plan to make the guy jealous. Yeah, like that would happen.

“Hey, you okay?” asked a voice and T.J. spun around so fast to face Antonio she literally fell into his arms.

“I am now,” she admitted, looking up at him through her lashes as he easily set her back on her feet, but didn’t quite let go of her body. “Uh, since we’re already...” she gestured vaguely with one hand, before settling both on his shoulders.

The request seemed to be that they dance, and Antonio had no reason to argue with that, especially since it was a slow dance and he had almost no chance of messing that up. They swayed together amongst so many other couples, almost completely oblivious to anyone who might have been looking their way, despite the fact those eyes included her Grandpa and the man she still called Dad. This was T.J.’s sweet sixteen, and as Sam quite rightly said, she should get what she wanted in such circumstances. Right now all she really wanted was for Antonio to kiss her, but he just seemed so oddly shy considering the guys he hung around with. Maybe that was better in some ways, she probably wouldn’t like him so much he were pushy or whatever. Still, right now one of them was going to have to be forward or she’d be seventeen before she got her first kiss. Her mother always told her that sometimes you just had to go for what you wanted and damn the consequences, so T.J. decided she ought to start taking some of that sound advice. Pushing herself forward and up on her toes, she let her eyes fall shut. Lo and behold, Antonio seemed to take the initiative then, and suddenly his lips were on hers. It was just for a few seconds, but it still made T.J. very glad she made the effort.

“Happy Birthday, T.J.,” said Antonio, words she felt more than heard they were still so close.

“It really is,” she agreed with a smile, before they kissed again.

* * *

“Seriously, Mac, I don’t even like black coffee,” said Dick, slightly more sober than he had been a few minutes ago.

“And I don’t like my boss showing up at my niece’s sweet sixteen in a state of drunken crazy,” she told him, just this side of mad as she gave up and clanked the coffee cup onto the saucer on the side table.

“Is that all I am?” asked Dick too seriously, whilst Mac kept her back very much too him. “’Cause I kinda thought-”

“No, you didn’t,” she interrupted, taking a step away, folding her arms around herself. “Dick, you didn’t think, neither of us did. If we had we wouldn’t have... we wouldn’t have spent that night together. I work for you for God’s sake!”

“Mac, you so know it wasn’t just sex,” he told her, getting up and stepping in close behind her, though he never actually touched her at all. “You and me... it’s different. It’s always been different, and I actually thought it meant something when we spent that night together. Then you’re all ducking my calls and hiding from me at the office and... and I figured I screwed up, but I can’t figure out how.”

There were tears in Mac’s eyes when she turned to face him then. She hated that she made him feel bad, but at the same time, she felt just as awful right now. What they did was a huge deal, a big step in their relationship. Here was Dick hoping to be a grown up about it and failing because she was playing avoidance tactics. The adult Dick wanted to be was only going to happen if she tried just as hard. It wasn’t lost on Mac that two of the only adults at a sweet sixteen were in fact behaving like the biggest kids of all.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she promised him, wiping her hand under her eye fast before a tear ever made it out. “But we really do need to talk about what happened, and what it all means.”

“I’m guessing here isn’t a great place for that?” he replied, only now really hearing the music and cheering of young people beyond the doors.

“Let’s go.” Mac smiled then, putting her arm through Dick’s own, reaching up with her free hand to fix his mussed up hair.

He leant her way a little as they walked outside. Both were looking at each other, and neither saw the movement in the bushes by the front drive, not even the flash of the camera going off. That guy had been there all night, and today wasn’t even his first visit to the Echolls house.


	24. Chapter 24

Mac woke up with the sun in her eyes and an arm that was not her own flung across her middle. In spite of her better judgement, she smiled. Okay, so she and Dick had come back to his place to talk things through, and here they were waking up together naked again, but that was okay. They really had made sure they got through t-much needed conversation before the making out began.

This time when they made love there was no mistaking it for a drunken fumble or a happy accident. They wanted this, they wanted to be together in a way neither of them had ever been willing to admit until now. It was a relationship almost twenty years in the making, from enemies to pseudo-friends, to work colleagues and genuine friends, and now lovers.

Mac was stupidly happy as she turned her head to stare at the blond on the next pillow. Dick was as hot now as he had been in high school, no denying that, but his attitude was better. He had mellowed enough to be an adult and a good businessman, but at the same time he was still so much fun with such a wacky sense of humour. Yes, Mac was in love with him, it had just taken a very long time for her to realise that’s exactly what she was feeling.

“Morning, boss,” she teased him when he slowly opened his eyes then.

“Hey, Macky.” He smiled sleepily as he came to at last. “Good talk last night,” he teased right back, making her giggle.

“Not gonna argue with that,” Mac agreed, scooching closer until they were kissing again, and he rolled them over so she was laid on top of him. “This can really work, can’t it?” she said then, her dark hair falling in his face.

“It totally can,” Dick agreed. “After all this time? We so have to be one of those destiny, meant to be things, right?”

“Totally,” she stole his own phrasing, her smile as wide as anything, before she leant down to kiss him long and deep.

Good thing it was Sunday. It seemed neither Dick nor Mac were in any hurry getting out of bed this morning!

* * *

Teresa Jane woke up with the sun in her eyes and a grin on her face that she was pretty sure hadn’t shifted in all the hours she’d been asleep. Last night, her sweet sixteen party had been epic. She hadn’t enjoyed a night so much in forever, hanging out with friends and family, rocking the house that belonged to movie star / biological father Logan Echolls, and finally getting seriously kissed by the boy she really liked. Yep, it had pretty much been a dream come true for T.J. D’Amato, and now she could enjoy a lazy Sunday morning without any worries about…

“Teresa!” Veronica’s voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs and T.J. groaned.

This wasn’t fair! It was Sunday and the first day of her sixteenth year. She should not be getting yelled at by her mother already. After all, it was barely ten o’clock according to the watch she strained to see on the nightstand. There could be no possible reason for this.

“T.J.?” said Veronica, closer this time, and knocking on the bedroom door. “Are you awake?” she asked as she let herself in.

“Unfortunately, yes,” her daughter groaned, pushing herself up in the bed a little and pushing her hair out of her face. “What’s the what, Mom? Is the house on fire or something?”

“Thankfully, no. If it were, I don’t think you’d make it, sleepy head.” She smiled slightly at her daughter who was decidely sleep-rumpled and unimpressed at being awake right now. “Last night was pretty good, huh?” she said as she sat down on the edge of the bed, glad of the bright smile that was soon back on T.J.’s lips.

“It was pretty awesome as party’s go,” she admitted. “You and Logan really pulled it off, Mom. Thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome, honey,” said Veronica as she hugged her baby girl. “However, speaking as you were of Logan, he called this morning,” she told T.J. as they parted. “He needs us to go over to the house, sooner rather than later.”

“Oh God,” T.J. looked momentarily horrified. “Nobody broke anything valuable, did they? Or did he see me and Antonio? Because we were just-”

“I don’t know what he wants, he wouldn’t say on the phone,” Veronica explained, interrupting only because she could see T.J. about to go off into the realms of crazy fantasy with her ideas about what might be wrong.

Seriously, the girl had almost as vivid an imagination as Veronica herself. Not that it was a bad thing to be just a little paranoid about the possible badness about to befall you. It made a girl wary, but then she was at least prepared for everything. Veronica couldn’t be sorry T.J. was wired that way.

Still, Logan was probably only inviting them over to be nice or whatever, at least that was what Veronica was telling her daughter. There was just something too serious in Logan’s tone when he called her that way, she didn’t like it. He wouldn’t tell her what was up, just that he needed them to come over to talk. It was serious enough that Veronica had got herself ready and then come to hurry T.J. out of bed almost immediately. Whatever was going on, even if it wasn’t so bad, she wanted to know about it, and sooner rather than later, otherwise the wondering would drive her crazy.

As Veronica moved to leave the room, T.J. called to her.

“Hey, Mom?” she said. “Um, you like Antonio, right?”

Veronica pushed down a smile before she turned to face her daughter again.

“I really can’t have an opinion, sweetie, since I hardly know him.” She shrugged. “You certainly seem to like him, and I’d like to think your judgement can be trusted,” she considered. “Besides, Weevil speaks highly of him, and I trust him.”

“That’s cool.” T.J. smiled widely once more. “I should really get dressed now.”

Veronica nodded her agreement and turned to leave for the second time, actually making it out of the door now. No, she didn’t have a problem with her daughter dating Antonio. She knew better than to judge a book by it’s cover and not everyone from the PCH were bad news. She had to believe Weevil was helping to bring him up decently, and though she had yet to meet Lena, the background check proved she was of decent character.

The smile slipped from Veronica’s face as she headed downstairs and started on some breakfast for T.J. They still had this visit at Logan’s house to face, and her mind wouldn’t quite stop spinning on the possibilities as to what it might be for. Veronica just couldn’t shift this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong, very badly wrong.

* * *

“I still can’t understand how this has happened,” said Amy, shaking her head. “Security is so tight, especially at the party.”

“This isn’t from the party,” Logan told her, pushing one of the photographs across the table towards his assistant. “That’s from last week when I gave T.J. the tour of the house,” he reminded her. “That paparazzi asshole has been here since Day One, maybe even camped out before we moved in. They can be that determined.”

Amy didn’t know what to say. Logan was angry but trying not to be, and she was braced for the explosion that was bound to come eventually. She had heard the stories about how he used to be when he was young, the volatile teen who organised bum fights and was once accused of stabbing a gang member. He was unstable then, but had matured during his time away from Neptune. It was five years now since she joined his staff and somehow became indispensable. Usually he was ridiculously adult and calm about things, she assumed because as soon as he let himself start to get angry he would all but Hulk out and go crazy. It wasn’t worth it, not when he was so firmly in the public eye, especially not now he had a daughter to consider, a daughter the press thought was his much younger lover apparently.

Logan was now pacing up and down, re-reading the note that had come with the mysterious manila envelope of pictures this morning. It stated simply, in typed print, that these pictures of Logan and ‘his child lover’ would be all over the press on Monday, if he didn’t send money, a whole lot of money. It wasn’t as if Logan couldn’t afford it, but it was the damn principal of the thing. Sure, he had a reputation where women were concerned, but a girl of sixteen? It made him feel physically sick, and an awful lot like the father he’d rather forget. The public would easily believe him capable of such a thing, given what Aaron had done years ago. It would be impossible to bear, not least because the young woman in question was not just some random stranger, or even the girlfriend the photographer assumed her to be. She was Teresa Jane, Logan’s own daughter. The whole thing was vile and disgusting to him, and he so wished Veronica was here. She’d know what to do for the best without letting her anger boil over, whil  
st Logan had to concentrate so hard on keeping his temper in check, he really had no room for anything else inside his head.

A tap on the door brought forth a staff member stating that Mrs D’Amato and her daughter were here to see Logan. He almost balked at the name given, but thought better of it. Now wasn’t the time for questions about why Veronica still used her married name, not least because he could already guess it was to save T.J. having differently named parents. There were more serious things to consider, and now that his two girls were here, that’s just exactly what they’d have to do.

“Hey.” Veronica was smiling when she came in, but Logan could see the nerves behind it.

She didn’t buy that everything was okay, not at all, and he knew it, even if she never did ask on the phone or now what was wrong. It was T.J that asked that question, with no small amount of apprehension herself. Maybe she thought she was in trouble somehow, but Logan hoped not.

“I should leave you alone a while,” the other blonde in the room said quickly and headed for the door.

“Thanks, Amy,” Logan called after her, his charming smile replaced by a much more serious look in a second as he gestured for Veronica and T.J to come over and sit on the couch.

He grabbed up the pictures from the counter before they spotted them and brought them over with him too.

“So, uh, great party last night.” T.J. smiled. “I had a blast, thank you, Logan,” she said sweetly. “And I’m really sorry if there was any trouble or anything was broken? Maybe stolen?”

She was fishing for the reason why she was here and made an admirable effort at it, Logan must concede. Still, he was glad that she had not even yet considered the real reason he had called. This was beyond serious and beyond disgusting, but he had to tell them the truth, both of them. There was no other option.

“You did nothing wrong, T.J., I swear,” he promised her, trying to smile but failing at the expression. “The problem is with somebody else, a photographer,” he explained, his eyes flitting to Veronica then.

“Oh God,” she gasped, already sure she knew what was coming next. “Somebody knows about T.J.,” she stated rather than asked, already certain she was right.

“Not really, at least not how you think.” Logan shook his head. “Apparently, the concept of my fatherhood was too much of a stretch for Creepy McCamera,” he declared, throwing the envelope across the coffee table for Veronica to catch, which she did.

As she opened it up and pulled out both the pictures and the note from the asshole that took them, she realised the horrible truth.

“Apparently, I’m some kind of pervert that preys on sixteen year old girls for fun,” Logan ground out, pushing a hand back through his short hair and looking ready to blow a blood vessel.

Veronica couldn’t blame him. She knew what this meant, how bad it could be for all of them. Not just for Logan and his career but for T.J. and Veronica herself, their family and friends. The after-shocks from this could be catastrophic, imploding all their lives one by one.

“Oh my God,” T.J. gasped with shock and horror. “My life is over,” she cried as she got up and bolted from the room.

“Teresa, don’t!” her mother called after her but she was already gone.

“It’s okay,” Logan placated his ex, putting a hand to her arm and urging her to sit back down. “She can’t get far. Amy will catch up to her and security won’t let her leave,” he promised.

It was all of very little comfort to Veronica right now. Here she had been worrying about silly little things like how she was going to pay for some broken vase as a result of T.J.’s party, or that her ex wanted to talk about the kiss they shared last night, though that would hardly require her to bring their daughter along for the meeting. This was so very much worse than all of that, and suddenly defining her relationship with Logan was the very bottom of Veronica’s list of things to do.

“Well, you can’t pay this guy,” she said, concentrating on the photos and paper in her lap again. “I mean you could, you have the cash, but it won’t help. He’ll just keep upping his price, I’ve seen this done before.”

“Me too,” Logan said with a look. “The deadline is too tight to look into this guy, even you and Mac pulling your superfly stuff from high school. There’s no way we’d be able to track this guy down and deal with him before the presses roll tonight.” He shook his head. “I... I think the only way out of this is to make the first strike.”

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” said Veronica carefully as she looked up an found Logan was back on his feet again, and looking too serious. “What are you thinking, Logan? You can’t seriously be considering outing Teresa Jane to the world?”

“What other choice do we have, Veronica?” he asked her, too loudly. “I know it’s not ideal, and I don’t like doing it to her, or to you, but this?” he said, grabbing up the pictures still on the table and waving them in her face. “This would be so much worse for her.”

“Logan.” Veronica sighed, pushing a hand back through her hair. “I get what you’re saying, I do, but you can’t just make a decision like this without me-”

“Why the hell not?!” asked Logan angrily. “You’ve made every decision about our daughter’s life since before she was born. I think it’s my turn!”

“You can’t do that!” she argued, getting to her feet, though he was still just as overbearingly tall as ever. “You can’t be petty like that, not now!”

“Petty?” he countered with evident incredulity. “I’m trying to do what’s best for my daughter. Y’know, the one you kept from me for sixteen years? There is no way she’s going to get out of this unscathed, Veronica, and I’m sorry about that, but I’m trying to do the best thing for everybody here.”

“Well, that’d be a first!” Veronica threw back at him.

Arms folded across her chest by now she was the picture of the defensive stroppy teen he had known so many years ago, and Logan was almost glad to see her look that way. This was Veronica as he remembered her, and it was oddly comforting. Of course, even in such a dire moment it reminded him of how much he still wanted her, how much he could easily just grab her and kiss her right now.

“Logan.” She let out a long breath. “I can’t... I can’t stand the idea of T.J.’s life getting turned even more upside down because of this,” she said sadly, all the fight gone out of her in a second. “I know lying to her all these years, keeping her from you, I know that hasn’t helped, but this is different. This is-”

“It’s horrible, I know,” he agreed, his own voice at a much more reasonable level now too, “but I can’t let those papers print what they’re thinking now.” He shook his head slowly. “The truth had to come out sometime, and I know this is sooner than anybody wanted but what choice do we have?”

“We don’t,” said a voice from the door, and Veronica and Logan turned almost as one to see T.J. stood there, all tear-stained but with her chin up in some sort of defiance that ought to make both her parents proud.

“T.J., I’m sorry,” Logan told her immediately, moving to meet her half way across the room.

“It’s okay.” She smiled bravely. “It’s not your fault. I got to talking to Amy out there. She’s nice.”

“She really is.” Logan smiled, putting a hand to his daughter’s shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “I just wanted to protect you and I feel like I screwed up already.”

“Welcome to Neptune; Crap happens.” T.J. rolled her eyes, so like her mother in that moment, but equally her father’s daughter too. “So, the world has to know you and me share DNA, huh? That’s gonna be a barrel of monkeys... not.”

“I know it wasn’t the plan,” Logan sympathised. “I just think it’s the only way to make sure the truth gets out and not whatever vicious lies these bast- these guys make up.”

“Newsflash, Logan, I’m sixteen not six.” She smirked a little, her father’s daughter entirely in that moment. “I know what bastard means,” she whispered, even as her mom looked daggers at her a moment.

“How are we going to do this?” asked Veronica then as she had the others full attention. “I mean, we don’t have much time.”

“I had a press conference set up for next week. We could bring it forward to this afternoon,” he thought aloud, jumping in to continue when Veronica looked immediately dubious. “Amy can fix it up. She’s very good at what she does.”

“I’ll bet she is,” Veronica muttered her reply, even though she knew this was no time for petty jealousy.

“And you’ll say, what?” asked T.J. shakily. “Like, hey world, here’s my daughter?” she tried for upbeat and okay, but it came out a little wobbly to say the least.

“I think even I can be a little more delicate than that.” Logan smirked slightly. “But we can talk about how we want to say it. This is your decision as much as mine, T.J.”

She nodded in understanding of what he said, really appreciating the fact she was at least being treated like an adult here. Running away like a kid hadn’t exactly proved she could be grown up, but Logan was trying and that meant a lot.

Still, the prospect of the whole town and then the whole world knowing the truth of who she was before the day was done, that freaked T.J. out more than a little. Those closest to her already knew the truth, and that was something to be thankful for, but the kids at school finding out, their parents, the people in town. It was an unholy mess, that was for sure, but T.J. believed she was tough enough to deal.

Like Logan had said, the truth had to come out some time. Maybe sooner was better than later, just get it over with, rip off the band aid. She was trying to tell herself this and believe in it, a part of her truly did believe, but there was still a voice inside her head that was screaming in panic. Nothing was going to stop that, until this day was over.


	25. Chapter 25

Teresa Jane D’Amato was pretty sure she had never been this nervous in the whole of her life. She had never spent so long picking out an outfit either, and still she felt as if she looked ridiculous. In a few minutes time, she was going to have to stand up in front of a room full of people with cameras and microphones, her face and voice beamed all around the world as she was introduced as Logan Echolls secret daughter. It was crazy, in fact it was beyond crazy. She was just this ordinary girl, daughter of a P.I. and a Sheriff in a small town in California. She wasn’t anybody really, and yet she was about to be somebody, recognised by anyone who knew anything about movies or entertainment. 

“T.J.?” said Veronica as she watched her daughter turn green. “Honey, are you-?”

“I’m gonna throw up!” she said fast as she dived into the next room, just getting her head over the toilet in time.

Amy had been coming back in just at that moment and winced at the sound of her employer’s daughter losing her lunch.

“Poor thing,” she said sympathetically. “This must be rough on her.”

Veronica glared daggers at the younger woman, taking her words as a slight on her for her behaviour. It was probably irrational, but she couldn’t help it. The next words out of her mouth had to be defensive and snarky, she wouldn’t be Veronica Mars if they weren’t. Fortunately, just as soon as she tried to speak the door opened wider and from behind Amy, Leo appeared.

“Hey,” he said without expression or tone.

“Leo.” Veronica was up off her seat, moving to hug him instantly. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said definitely. “I almost called you but I didn’t know if this would be too awkward and weird.”

“She’s my daughter, Veronica,” her ex-husband told her. “Maybe not by blood, but I love her enough. Of course I wanted to be here. I actually don’t appreciate that I had to get the heads up about this press conference from your ex’s assistant,” he said, as Veronica’s eyes returned to Amy.

The younger blonde was getting away as fast as she could now, closing the door behind her. Veronica didn’t bother to ask all the questions in her head. At any other time, they all would have come spilling out without a moments pause, but there was T.J to think about right now. She was most important, as always.

“Daddy.” She smiled when she saw Leo, though her eyes were full of tears.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted her, hugging her tight. “Big day, huh?”

“The biggest,” she admitted, her voice shaking. “I didn’t know how you’d take all this. It’s why I didn’t call or anything.”

“It’s okay, I get it,” he assured her, even though it had stung not to have either his ex-wife or the daughter he had raised let him know what was happening.

It was good of Amy to inform him. She seemed really decent and kind, an odd choice then for Logan’s companion, though she had made it pretty clear they were strictly business. Leo put that particular woman out of his head right now and concentrated on the situation at hand.

“I don’t know how to do this, y’know?” Teresa said then, wiping her cheeks dry from tears with the backs of her hands. “I’m not the American Idol, Fame Academy, wannabe type. I’m just me, and I was happy with that,” she told them, fighting so hard not to cry anymore and yet failing miserably.

At sixteen, this was way too much to take in, but right now there was no choice in the matter. Veronica felt horrible. At least if Logan had known the truth from the start, they could have introduced T.J. to fame from a young age. It probably would’ve become second nature. Now she didn’t just have to adjust to her life being a lie, but also to a life in which she was centre stage whether she liked it or not. Thank Heaven for small mercies, at least with this press conference this afternoon, they were getting the real truth out before the media made it up for them.

A tap on the door then was followed by Logan’s head appearing around the edge. He looked good, too good, Veronica couldn’t help but notice, even though now was really not the time.

“Hey,” he said, looking to his daughter only. “You ready, T.J.?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready exactly,” she admitted, wiping at her face again and taking a deep breath. “But yeah, let’s do this,” she said bravely, taking the hand he offered her and letting herself be led away.

“We’re right here, honey,” her mother promised. “You don’t have to worry.”

Teresa Jane nodded her understanding and then just put all her concentration into walking forward and breathing deeply. Logan let his arm go around her shoulders for a brief moment, a hug of comfort and stregth perhaps. He didn’t think she would mind and she didn’t seem to, so that was something.

“Okay, you stay here with Amy,” he told his daughter as they reached the door to the main hall where all the press were waiting. “I’ll explain, introduce you, then you can come in, okay?”

“Yeah, I got it.” T.J. nodded once, unable to keep herself from shaking all over.

“Hey,” Logan said then, making her meet his eyes. “T.J. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. I swear to God, I never would. You don’t have to say or do anything you don’t want to, okay? Just breathe, smile if you can,” he advised her. “It’ll be cool.”

“I know.” She smiled as best she could. “So long as they get my good side, it’s all cool,” she tried for a joke but it didn’t quite come off - Logan appreciated the effort.

“Hey, you’re the product of me and Veronica,” he reminded her of the obvious. “You only have good sides, kid.” He winked before taking a deep breath himself and ploughing on through the door to his press conference.

T.J. reminded herself to breathe for the seventh time in thirty seconds, but it still didn’t come easy!

* * *

Antonio had the T.V. on but he wasn’t really seeing the screen. He was supposed to be working on his bike with Weevil this afternoon, but after nearly cutting his hand open twice, his almost-step-father had declared him useless and sent him inside. There was no malice in his words since the ex-biker knew what the kid’s problem was. He had come home late last night, grinning like an idiot, with smudges of some chick’s lipstick on his face. Weevil was sure, without ever asking, that it was T.J. D’Amato he’d been getting up close and personal with. Veronica wouldn’t mind at all, she was the decent type, but Logan was going to go crazy, and that made this whole thing even more fun.

Having tidied up the tools in the garage, Weevil had followed Antonio inside to talk to him, in a man to man kind of way. For a few moments he watched him aimlessly flip channels, his focus off to the far left and not even on the T.V. Clearly this girl meant something to him. He wouldn’t look like a man with too much on his mind if he was just looking for an easy lay.

“You fell pretty hard and fast for this one, huh?” he said without introduction, as he came into the living room and dropped down into the armchair.

“Oh, yeah,” Antonio replied without thinking, startled when he realised what he’d done. “I mean, uh... What’re you talkin’ about, man?”

“Don’t play the tough guy routine with me, kid. I invented it.” Weevil rolled his eyes. “Y’know, you can be all macho with your friends, talk about all the girls you think you could get, but I’m tellin’ you, you find a decent girl like T.J. and she actually likes you, you don’t screw that up, okay?” he told him sagely. “Not for your friends, not for any other chick, not for nothin’, you got that?”

“I got it.” Antonio nodded definitely. “I don’t know what it is about her, man, she’s just... She’s different,” he explained badly.

“Product of Mars and Echolls was always gonna be somethin’ special,” Weevil admitted. “Huh, talk of the devil,” he said then, gesturing towards the T.V. on which Logan had since appeared.

Antonio paid attention then, upping the volume to hear what his friend’s father might be saying at what seemed to be press conference. There was a twist in his gut as a thought occurred to him that this just might have something to do with T.J.

“... and that’s just part of the reason why I’m glad to be back in Neptune,” Logan was saying too seriously. “The other is going to be a surprise for all of you, I’m sure. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, and all the other folks here to make a quick buck off my private life.” He smiled too wide, his enduring sarcastic humour still very much present. “I’d like to introduce you to somebody very important. My daughter, Teresa Jane.”

“Holy mother...” Weevil gasped with shock as he sat forward in his seat, watching wide-eyed as T.J. appeared from a side door and walked up onto the stand with her dad.

* * *

T.J. could’ve sworn she went temporarily blind when all the cameras started flashing in her face. She looked back towards the door through which she had come, but it had closed on the apprehensive faces of her mom and the man she still called Dad. She was alone out here in a sea of people, and not just people, but photographers, journalists, reporters. Well, not completely alone, Logan’s arm had crept around her shoulders and it was oddly comforting considering the fact she barely knew him yet. Maybe genetics just made you comfortable around a person, but she doubted it somehow.

“Teresa!” several of the reporters called.

“It’s okay,” Logan said softly near her ear. “You can answer if you want, but you don’t have to.”

“I, uh... I actually prefer T.J.,” she said nervously into the mic.

Nobody laughed or seemed affronted, they just started calling the alternative name she gave them. She knew what answers she could and couldn’t give, so she was safe to take questions, but the idea that anybody even cared about who she was or what she liked or anything was so ridiculously overwhelming.

“T.J., have you seen any of your dad’s movies?” asked one overly smiley man on the front row.

“Um, a couple, yeah,” she answered shyly. “He’s a good actor.”

“Do you have aspirations to be an actress yourself, T.J.?” a female reporter asked this time.

“Really not.” She laughed at the very idea, feeling a little more relaxed when some of the crowd joined in.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad up here, but T.J. could still feel herself shaking, even as Logan leaned in to tell her she was doing fine. It was the craziest feeling, as other reporters asked their questions - what music T.J. was into, if she liked living in Neptune, how she felt about Logan being a star. She handled it all pretty well, she thought, and her biological father seemed to agree, until the killer question came.

“T.J., who’s your mother?” called a voice from the back, so far into the crowd of journalists, T.J. wasn’t even sure who had spoken.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t know the answer, and they all knew the question was bound to come up. She was allowed to answer, she knew that. After all, if they didn’t get the truth out at the press conference, it would only come out later when the residents of Neptune who knew would reveal all an in their own version. Still, T.J. floundered, feeling awkward outing her mom that way. Seeing her struggling, Logan stepped into the breach.

“Some of you might remember a young lady I used to date named Veronica Mars,” he told the assembled masses. “Go back in those archives, people, look her up. As well as being the only woman in my life I was ever truly in love with, I’m happy to say she also T.J.’s mother.” He smiled. “What, you couldn’t tell from how beautiful she is?”

Whilst the crowd of journalists and assistants smiled and chuckled in appreciation for the movie-stars words, there were a couple of people present at the Echolls house today that took his comments so very differently. Leo wasn’t dumb, he knew Logan still loved Veronica, that he always would. She was just one of those women, once you fell it seemed there really was no way back. Leo himself had learnt that the hard way, and it was all the more difficult to stand here next to his ex and hear the real father of the child they raised together declare his own deep and never-ending affection.

Next to Leo, Veronica looked completely dumb-struck, and that almost never happened. There were tears in her eyes as she bit her lip and fought the urge to bawl like a child. It wasn’t crazy enough to think Logan was just saying those things to please the crowd, even to hurt her by making her feel even more guilty for keeping him out of her life the way she had. Veronica didn’t believe any of these reasons. She believed that Logan meant every word he said about her, and that probably caused more pain than anything, because she knew now as much as ever that she could never, ever deserve him again.


	26. Chapter 26

Another day at Neptune High, and she was not impressed. Most teenage girls would love the idea of heading off to school, no doubt looking forward to cheerleading practise or glee club, seeing that special boy or just hanging out with friends. Some even appreciated the classes they attended, enjoying their education immensely. She was just different to everyone else. Teresa Jane D’Amato, as she had always been known, had recently been outed as the daughter of movie star Logan Echolls, and if there was a person left on the planet that didn’t know about it, T.J. would be genuinely stunned.

This particular morning, her mom had opted to drive her to school, or at least as far as she ever took her, teenagers had reputations to uphold after all. It had been decided that T.J. didn’t need twenty four hour bodyguard protection right now. God only knew how things might go in the future, but Logan had made it very clear at the press conference that if his daughter or his ex were in any way harassed he would start making some lives very difficult. This meant that the former D’Amato women did not get mobbed on the way to the school, but T.J. wasn’t quite sure what to expect when she made it to the door.

“Good luck, honey,” her mother told her with a brave smile that most people wouldn’t see through.

“I’ll be fine, Mom,” T.J. promised, even if she wasn’t so very sure it was true. “I’m smart, I’m alert, and in case of emergency, I have Mr Sparky’s little brother in my bag.” She smiled, patting said bag before she got out of the car.

Veronica watched her go and hoped for the best. It was crazy how easy the populace of a school could be swayed. Her own popularity had gone up and down like a yoyo in her time attending Neptune High, dependent on which boy she was dating at the time, whether her father was currently Sheriff or not, and so forth. For T.J., high school had been relatively normal and middle of the road up to now. Everything was about to change, and Veronica knew it even if her daughter was trying to pretend all was well. She understood the dangers that came with being famous but she wasn’t even considering the school politics of it all, the teachers being nicer, the 09ers suddenly knowing her name. Veronica wasn’t sure how T.J would cope, and moreover how she herself was going to cope now the whole town (along with the world at large) knew her secret. There would be questions as to why T.J. had been raised as a D’Amato, and it was the one thing Logan refused to talk to the press about. She didn’t ask why, she daren’t, especially after everything else that had happened since he’d been back. His confession about always loving her, his words at the press conference that essentially called her the love of his life, and that interrupted kiss at T.J.’s sweet sixteen. It all added up, it all meant something, and yet Veronica had spent so long convincing herself she and Logan were over for good this time, a no go area. Maybe she had been wrong, but she couldn’t get her hopes up. After everything that had gone before, she couldn’t deserve Logan even if she wanted him. A part of her knew she did want him, did love him, and always had. Tears came to Veronica’s eyes that she fought to blink away for fear of crashing the car if she didn’t. She always would love Logan Echolls, no matter what. She knew they were just as epic as he always told her, but it had to be far too late by now, didn’t it?

* * *

“Hello, sweetheart,” Keith greeted his daughter as she came into work, though his usual cheerful smile was nowhere to be seen.

“Dad, please tell me you’re not still mad about yesterday.” She sighed heavily as she came over to the desk and dumped her purse on it. “I told you, it all happened so fast-”

“I didn’t say a word,” he interrupted, hands held aloft in mock surrender. “I just think that even in those kind of circumstances, maybe you might wanna tell your own father that his grandaughter is about to be presented to the world on TV as the offspring of a movie star,” he said, leaning around to pick up the paper from the desk and hold it up for her to see.

There on the front page of the cheapest tabloid was a picture of Logan and T.J., his arm round her shoulders, as he introduced her to the world as his daughter. Veronica knew her father was mad at her, he had told her as much last night on the phone, but right now all the badness of this situation faded as she stared at the photograph.

They looked alike. Most people said Teresa Jane was the spit of her mom, just with slightly darker hair. Veronica knew her daughter did share looks with her, but she was also pure Logan sometimes. Certain things she said, certain expressions she made, Veronica saw her ex’s face staring back at her too often and for the longest time wished she didn’t. Now she was more glad of the similarities, and so grateful that both of them were finding ways to forgive her for her betrayal. Veronica was sure she didn’t really deserve it.

“I don’t wanna be mad, Veronica,” her own father said then, dropping he paper back onto the desk and getting her full attention. “I just... I don’t want Teresa Jane to become more Logan’s daughter than she is one of us,” he lamented. “She may have Echolls DNA and the D’Amato name, but our girl is a Mars by blood and spirit,” he said definitely, jabbing a finger at his daughter as if it made his point more valid. “I’m not having her become the next Smiley Cyrus or Hannah Banana.”

“It’s Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana.” Veronica laughed in spite of herself. “And they’re the same person; one is the actress, one is the character,” she explained, even though it really didn’t matter. “T.J. doesn’t want to be a star, Dad, but like I told you yesterday, if Logan didn’t tell the world she was his daughter, they were going to call her much worse. I couldn’t let that happen to her, or let Logan be accused of those things,” she said sadly. “I’ve already done far too much to hurt them both.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Keith sighed, pulling his tearful little girl into a hug. “Y’know, you can’t keep punishing yourself for your mistakes like that,” he told her, kissing the top of her head. “I know I was right there telling you how wrong your choice was, but at the end of the day, it was yours and I know you had the best intentions,” he continued, even as she pulled out of his arms to meet his eyes.

“You think Logan and T.J. see it that way?” She sniffed.

“I do know kids don’t stop loving their parents just ‘cause they made a bad call.” He smiled some. “If that were true, you’d’ve been long gone, kiddo.”

Veronica couldn’t help but laugh then. No, she wasn’t a perfect parent, but as much as she looked to her dad as a good example, he wasn’t a saint either. Her own paternity had been a messy situation, and he had kept secrets he shouldn’t have kept. He had an affair with a married woman; he destroyed evidence to save Veronica’s butt. All parents have done a few things in their life they ought not to be proud of, but usually it was for the greater good, and for the love of their children. No-one could argue much of a case against that kind of love.

“Knock, knock,” said a voice then, and both P.I.s turned to see Weevil hovering in the doorway.

“Good Mmrning, Eli,” Keith greeted him. “Can I get you a cup of coffee? I was just about to make one.”

“Actually, I was looking to kidnap your partner in crime-stopping here.” He smiled politely, eyes drifting to Veronica. “I just dropped off a car across the street, I was hoping you could give me a ride back to the garage?”

It would seem like an odd request if Veronica hadn’t learn to read her friend like a book. They needed to talk, and given T.J.’s affection for a certain Antonio Juarez, she could guess what that talk was about too. She didn’t actually have any meetings or appointments to keep this morning and was only in the office to catch up on paperwork which she could do later.

“Never let it be said that Veronica Mars let a friend down,” she said easily, picking up her purse again. “I won’t be long, Dad,” she assured him a she left.

Weevil was too quiet as they went out to the car and climbed in. Veronica would rather him just say whatever it was that was on his mind, since she had a feeling it was nothing good. There was no way he could be against T.J. and Antonio being friends or even dating, she thought, but then there was the Logan factor to consider. Weevil had known about Teresa Jane’s true parentage without ever being told, he just knew the parents in question that well. Maybe it hadn’t bothered him before Logan blew back into town. Now perhaps he wasn’t so keen for his fiancee’s son to be dating Veronica’s daughter, not when the press was watching her and everything.

“You’re awfully quiet for a man that wanted to talk to me,” she said as she pulled up at a red light at the end of the road.

“Who said I wanted to talk?” Weevil asked her with a smirk he couldn’t help, and Veronica turned just in time to see it.

“C’mon, Eli.” She shook her head. “We’ve known each other too long to play games. You have something to say to me, you say it.”

Weevil nodded once, considering her words a moment before he finally got to the point, just as the car pulled out into traffic again.

“Me and Antonio, we saw your girl on TV yesterday,” he commented as if it wasn’t actually important. “That was some coming out party.”

“It really was,” Veronica breathed deeply through all the mixed emotions. “T.J. was a little freaked out, but I think she handled it pretty well considering. I know they say fame and fortune changes everybody, but I think we might just be okay with her. I’d like to think so anyway.”

Weevil didn’t know how to respond to that. It was as if she knew exactly what was bothering him and answered his questions and concerns without him ever voicing them. It wasn’t all that shocking, V had always been sharp as a tack. Some things never did change apparently.

“At least she knows the people hanging around before the truth broke loose were there ‘cause they liked her and not her rich daddy’s name,” he remarked pointedly.

“Which I reminded her this morning,” said Veronica sharply.

She knew what he was getting at, she even understood it, but that didn’t mean Veronica had to like it. Weevil was all but accusing her daughter of having her head turned by other friends, other guys, people who wouldn’t usually care about her, just because she was potentially famous now. That wasn’t cool.

“Hey, V,” he said, putting a hand on hers atop the handbrake just as soon as she parked up outside the garage. “I’m not gonna fight with you, chica. Kids will be kids, and I dunno what’s gonna happen with Antonio and T.J., but he’s a good kid, and he likes her a lot. Lena says she never seen him like this over a girl before.”

“She likes him too, a lot.” Veronica nodded. “I don’t see that changing just because Logan is back and the world knows the truth. If you have real feelings for somebody, they don’t just disappear, not ever.”

There was something about the way she said it and the look in her eyes when he met her gaze. Nope, that weren’t just talking about the kids anymore. Poor little Veronica Mars, she really never had gotten over Logan, and from what he said at that press conference yesterday, he never let her out of his heart either.

“We been friends a long time, girl,” he said seriously. “That still don’t mean you gotta listen to what I say, especially about this, but... well, you be careful around Echolls, okay?” he advised her, continuing fast when she opened her mouth as if to interrupt or argue. “Don’t tell me it ain’t gonna happen. I known you too long.” He winked as he moved to get out of the car then.

Veronica meant to argue with him, to tell him he as crazy. The words wouldn’t come, but it didn’t matter, they’d’ve been a lie if they had.

* * *

T.J. had been sure that being suddenly well known at her school would have an adverse affect, she really hadn’t thought about the advantages. So far, she had been spoken to by just about every student at Neptune High, all smiling and asking how she was. She responded politely, but kept on walking down the hall at speed, with Sam glued to her side like as security blanket. She played bodyguard pretty well where the girls were concerned, but loved all the attention she was getting by association from the male populace. T.J. had all but swallowed her own tongue when the captain of the basketball team asked her if she was busy later. As far as she knew, she had told him that she had plans before she bolted from his sight.

It was actually better when they were in class and she could pretend she was normal, until her English teacher made a fuss about the fact the Shakespeare play they were studying had been the basis of one of Logan’s movies. T.J. kind of wanted the ground to swallow her whenever she was centre of attention anyway; whether that attention was good or bad really didn’t matter. Now it was lunch time, she was kind of hoping the excitement would have gotten down to a dull roar. No such luck, and she still couldn’t find Antonio!

Saturday night had ended very, very well. He had kissed her goodnight and they made plans to meet up in school on Monday. As far as T.J. was concerned, they were having a relationship, however casual so far. They were going to go on dates, and he was going to be her boyfriend. This was the plan in her mind, the dreams she had in her head Sunday morning, until all the crazy happened and the world was told who her real father was. Now everything was unclear where Antonio Juarez was concerned. If T.J. could just find him and talk to him it’d be fine, but every time she turned around there seemed to be all other people surrounding her and never the one she was looking for. Case in point, a bunch of 09er girls started waving and calling her name just as soon as she and Sam walked past their table, lunch trays in hands.

“T.J., over here!” called the blonde and beautiful Queen Bee; real name Tara Thompson.

Both T.J. and Sam turned to peer at her, wondering at the way she was waving them over like a crazy person. It wasn’t that either of them really wanted to go over, since the 09ers usually didn’t treat people like them so well, but for the sake of the novelty, it was hard to resist the invitation.

“You want to...?” asked T.J. with a look towards her BFF.

Sam squirmed a little, looking over her friend’s shoulder at the grinning Tara and her cronies.

“Just one time couldn’t hurt, right?” She shrugged, the decision apparently made as they walked over to the table together.

Room was immediately made for the pair, even though Tara looked less impressed by Sam’s presence, T.J. noted. They took their places at the table but had barely managed to start eating before the interrogation started. T.J. had half expected that, and the questions that came flying started out pretty basic. How well did she get along with her movie star father? What did he buy her for her sweet sixteen? How come they were only finding out the truth now? She fielded them all as best she could with short concise answers that she was sure her mother would be proud of her for. Then came the clincher, the one thing she didn’t want to have to talk about.

“So, how come Sheriff D’Amato pretended to be your father?” asked Sherry MacLaine, the overly tall brunette at the other end of the table. “I mean, was it a security thing or what?”

“Um, it’s kind of complicated.” T.J. squirmed.

The fact her mom and the man she called Dad had lied to her for the first sixteen years of her life was still a sore point, even for her. There was no way she wanted to get into it with the 09er bimbo types that she barely knew. Thankfully Sam came to her rescue, leaping in to change the subject onto the first thing she could come up with.

“Oh, I love your bracelet,” she told Sherry when her hand crept across the table to reach for the communal basket of fries - apparently one portion between five people was the answer to maintaining a size zero figure.

“It’s Chopard.” She smiled widely. “Daddy got it on his business trip to Switzerland.”

T.J. mouthed a sincere thank you to her BFF as the topic of conversation was soon deep in the depths of fancy jewellery brands like Tiffany and Cartier, and then onto purses by people T.J. had never even heard of. At last, she could eat her lunch in peace it seemed. If these girls asked her to come join them tomorrow she was just going to have to say no. It wasn’t worth it.

“Teej!” Sam whispered urgently in her ear then. “Your chico latino at five o’clock.”

T.J. swivelled around on her seat to the right direction in time to see Antonio and his friends coming out of the side door to the school building. She really wanted to get up and run over there to talk to him, but honestly, with those guys hanging round, she wasn’t sure she should. As she watched them, Antonio looked up, attention attracted by the mass hysterical giggling that erupted from the 09er girls all around her. At the sight of her sitting at their table, his face fell. 

Though T.J. didn’t really understand it, Antonio was disappointed in her more than anything else. Weevil had convinced him that T.J. was like her mom and in no way going of forget her friends or change her mind about him just because she was famous now. Antonio had believed she wouldn’t want to hang with those 09er bitches or similar, and yet there she was. It twisted up his guts and he hated it. Besides, the guys had already given him a ribbing about liking the movie star’s daughter that was, in their words not his, way out of his league. So much for what happened between them Saturday night, it seemed it had meant nothing at all to T.J. Antonio turned away and concentrated on what his friends were saying then, trying not to care. It was easier said than done.


	27. Chapter 27

“Hellooo?” called Mac as she literally swung into the Mars Investigation office, coffees balanced on a cardboard tray in her free hand.

“Ooh, I love you!” Veronica came charging across the room to grab a hot beverage. “I love you,” she repeated to the styrofoam cup before she took a long sip.

Mac rolled her eyes at her friend’s behaviour, knowing at least some of that love was actually meant for her, since she had been so kind as to come bearing caffeine. It didn’t matter, and she just carried on walking, bringing over a coffee to Keith and taking the last for herself.

“So, kinda saw the papers this morning,” she told Veronica as they stood by the desk sipping their drinks, Keith having slipped back into the office a moment ago.

“Anything interesting in there?” asked her friend innocently, breaking after just two seconds of the Mackenzie stare. “Yeah, okay, I know.” She sighed heavily. “I guess the truth had to come out sometime, and T.J. is handling it all shockingly well.”

“Kids are resilient, I guess.” Her friend shrugged. “Big blond former surfer dudes on the other hand?” She rolled her eyes. “Apparently I failed in some kind of pre-girlfriend duty in not telling him his ex-BFF ‘spawned with Mars’,” she air-quoted, causing a look of disgust on Veronica’s face.

Like she really wanted Dick’s opinion on her relationships or betrayals. Sure, he was more grown up these days, as they all had to be, and it wasn’t like she hated the guy or anything. Still, his thoughts on anything to do with her, Logan, or T.J. were things she didn’t need to hear, whether he considered Mac should have told him about it all or not. It was then that a bolt of lightning hit Veronica as she replayed her friend’s words in her head.

“Wait; pause, rewind!” she said with a wave of her hand. “Your pre-girlfriend duty?” she echoed the words she was sure her friend had said.

“Did I say that?” asked Mac, hiding a smile in her coffee cup a moment. “Hmm, I guess I did.”

“Wow, way to go Miss Mackenzie,” said Veronica with a grin then. “So, the talk you guys had Saturday night obviously took, huh?”

“Kinda did,” her friend agreed with a nod. “I don’t know, I just think over all the years me and Dick have known each other, the things we’ve both been through,” she said with a pointed look. “Nobody understands us like we understand each other, and it just... it works. I want it to work.” She smiled then. “Plus the fact he’s hot and great in bed really doesn’t hurt.”

Veronica almost sprayed the floor with coffee at that remark, and laughed along with Mac a moment later. Honestly, she couldn’t really dispute what her friend said about Dick’s looks. He was pretty hot even now, and there was a sweet side in there somewhere, she was sure of it. Truth be told, she was glad for Mac. It had been too long since she had a guy in her life. Not that a woman needed a romantic partner to define herself these days, but if it meant her being all the happier, Veronica was all for it.

“So, my love life is on the up and up,” Mac said then. “How’re things with you?”

“Uh, non-existent?” her friend told her with look that wasn’t quite convincing enough apparently. “Seriously, Mac, you know all my focus has to be on T.J. right now. Besides, since the divorce, I haven’t exactly been on a lot of dates, and even fewer successful ones.” She sighed, turning away and back to her paperwork.

Mac didn’t like to push, but at the same time, it was going to drive her crazy if she had to keep her mouth shut too long on the subject of Veronica and Logan. There was simply no way they were going to exist in the same town, as parents of the same teenage daughter, and not get close again. In spite of everything, Mac was pretty sure that those two were meant to be together and would be again before long.

“So, I guess that quote in the papers about you being the only woman Logan ever truly loved was just a misprint, huh?” she said, sipping her coffee and peering at her best friend over the rim of the cup.

“No, actually, that was genuine.” The blonde smiled slowly, almost blushing in fact as she turned around to face her friend again. “I swear, Mac, I was floored when he said it, but... but he can’t care about me that way anymore, can he?” She sighed, perching on the edge of the desk. “I mean, after everything I’ve done, how can I deserve him?”

“That’s not for me to say.” Mac shook her head as she came to sit beside Veronica. “It’s up to Logan to decide if he wants to be with you. Of course, if you don’t have any feelings for him anymore, then it’s all a moot point,” she ventured, not actually asking out-right, but the question was clear.

Veronica pushed some loose hair back off her face and almost laughed. It was ridiculous. She felt like she was seventeen all over again, trying to figure out what her heart wanted, if she really could be in love with Logan after everything that had passed between them. The truth back then was just the same as it remained now.

“Of course I have feelings for him, Mac,” she admitted, with tears shining in her eyes. “I have loved Logan on some level since I was twelve years old, and... and I did love Leo when I married him too, I swear I did-”

“I would never question that,” her friend assured her, putting a comforting hand to her shoulder. “But you and Logan? That was always _the_ relationship. You guys were just...”

“Epic?” Veronica suggested, knowing Mac wouldn’t understand the full meaning behind the word.

For herself, the former Miss Mars had a hundred thoughts, feelings, and memories hanging onto that one four letter word. From the night at Alterna-Prom when Logan gave her his speech about their relationship being forever, it had stuck with her. Sure, he had said the morning after that he was drunk and didn’t remember, but later the admission came that he did know some of what he’d said. He meant it, believed every word, and Veronica had come to believe it too, for a while at least.

Years later, it seemed silly to hold onto the childish dreams of her teenage years, but it was difficult to let go. Now Logan was back in town, somehow not so very different to the man Veronica used to love. That night at T.J.’s party when they danced together and he kissed her too, it was easy to believe they were giddy teens all over again.

“Hey,” said Mac in the middle of her friends daydream haze. “You okay?” she checked.

“I think maybe me and Logan need to have a serious talk.” Veronica made her decision all of a sudden.

The smile she received from Mac proved that she agreed it was the right thing to do.

* * *

“Hey, what happened with you at lunch?”

Antonio was almost startled by Sam suddenly talking to him. He hadn’t really noticed she was even stood there, leaning back against the wall outside the Principal’s office. Even if he had spotted her, he certainly wouldn’t expect her to speak to him reasonably.

“What are you talking about?” he checked with a frown.

“I’m talking about T.J., jerkwad.” The blonde rolled her eyes and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “What’s the deal with you seeing us and just walking the other way. I thought you liked her.”

“Yeah, and I thought she liked me.” He bristled at the implication he might be in the wrong here. “Guess not.”

Sam was confused, which wasn’t exactly something new for her, but this really didn’t make sense. T.J. definitely liked Antonio, a lot, and he ought to know that after all the time she spent with him and the kissing they got up to. There was no way the biker was walking away without explaining this to her.

“Hey, wait up, vato!” she called after him, grabbing the strap of his bag to pull him back.

She was completely unphased by the glare he shot her way. Sam just folded her arms across her chest and gave him her own stern look.

“What is your problem, Barbie?” he asked her sharply. “Why are you even hanging around here?”

“I’m waiting for T.J. while Principal Clemmons dotes on her for being the daughter of a star or whatever,” Sam huffed, not amused to be getting off topic. “Back to the point, what the hell are you talking about?” she asked him out-right. “You know how T.J. feels about you. She is not some slut that just throws herself at guys and makes out with them for kicks. She really likes you!” she told him in a tone that suggested he was the epitome of stupid if he didn’t get it.

Antonio objected to the tone, but he didn’t so much mind the words he was hearing. Sam had no reason to lie to him that he could think of, but she’d made it clear up to now that she really didn’t like him very much either. Maybe she was messing with his head for her own dumb blonde agenda, maybe just because she was bored, or even to make him look a fool in front of T.J. The girl in question had made no attempts to talk to him today, but then he hadn’t exactly put in any effort either.

“Why should I listen to anything you have to say?” he asked Sam straight, trying to read her expression and know for sure if she was screwing with him.

“This is so not about me!” Sam told him, frustration evident in her tone and looks. “Actually, T.J. asked me to go a little easier on you for her sake. She’s like my sister or whatever, so I do what she asks in stuff like that,” she admitted with a shrug. “For God’s sake, if you don’t believe me, doesn’t the way she’s been with you lately prove how much she likes you? Two weekends ago, she didn’t even talk to me because she spent the whole time with you!”

That really did get Antonio’s attention, and the frown he’d been wearing on and off throughout this conversation was back full force.

“I never spent a weekend with T.J.,” he said definitely. “I met her the night she found out about her parents, we’ve hung out at school, and I saw her twice on her birthday, that’s it.”

Now it was Sam’s turn to look utterly baffled. She knew for sure that T.J. had said she spent that weekend with Antonio. She was not mistaken, no way, and yet the guy looked totally serious when he said he didn’t understand what she was talking about. The idea that her BFF would lie to her didn’t thrill Sam at all. It seemed to make Antonio even more mad.

“Well, if she wasn’t with you...?” Sam started to say, only to have the girl herself cut in and answer the question she hadn’t quite asked.

“I was with Logan,” admitted T.J. as she appeared in the doorway. “I’m sorry, Sam, but the way things were, as crazy as you were getting about him, I just, it was easier... to say I was with you.”

The last part of her explanation was directed at Antonio, and she hoped with everything she had that he understood why she lied. It couldn’t hurt him that she used him for cover, she thought to herself. There was a mental kick that came right after as the word ‘used’ stuck out above all others. She had used Antonio, even though he hadn’t known it, and today she had all but ignored him, though it hadn’t really been a conscious decision. Either way, he didn’t look happy.

“I guess I should’ve expected the daughter of Logan Echolls to use people,” he said bitterly, shaking his head.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” T.J. argued immediately, hating the wobble that made it’s way into her voice as she did so. “You can’t just-”

“I can’t just what, T.J.?” he challenged her with a look as well as his words. “I can’t just walk away? Guess what? Actually, I can.”

With that he turned and did just that, leaving the door swinging in his wake. Sam looked shocked by what had just happened here, and even more so by the tears streaking down her best friend’s face. That really had not gone well at all.


	28. Chapter 28

“You sure you’re okay?” asked Sam as she and T.J, walked down the halls of Neptune High together. “’Cause y’know, that biker guy isn’t worth-”

“I wasn’t even thinking about him,” her friend cut in.

It was a lie, of course. She had been thinking about Antonio, almost constantly since their fight the day before. She was mad at herself for telling lies about him to Sam, and mad at him for finding out, even if that made no sense. Just when things were settling down a little and she thought she could handle her current situation. It would’ve been nice if she and Antonio could just be together and be happy like she’d been dreaming about for a while now. Just T.J.’s luck that the rug got pulled out from under that relationship, just when she’d wrapped her head around her parentage issues. Maybe her mom was right, maybe it was impossible to be happy whilst attending Neptune High. As soon as one thing went right, something else seemed to go spectacularly wrong, in a nasty attempt to level up the balance.

“Y’know, my mom has been acting weird since yesterday,” she said then, mostly thinking aloud. “She hasn’t been exactly normal since Logan came back, but now... she just seemed all thoughtful and weird last night, and again this morning.”

“Well, Logan did call her the love of his life at the press conference,” Sam noted with an undignified huff, clearly wishing she were in Veronica’s shoes. “If that’s not enough to bowl a girl over, I don’t know what is!” she declared.

“’Cept my mom isn’t a girl, she’s a woman. She’s... older,” T.J. considered, knowing it would be an injustice to her mother to say she was actually old.

It was too much for her brain to handle to consider that her mom might still love her biological dad, that the two of them might want to get close again. T.J. really wasn’t sure how she would feel about that. She had long since come to terms with the fact that her parents, Veronica and Leo, made better friends than they did a couple. She was okay with them being divorced but both still loving her just the same. Now Logan was here, and he loved her too, she supposed, but if he wanted to date her mom... No, T.J. couldn’t wrap her head around that one and chose not to try anymore as she came around the corner and saw Antonio with his friends. He looked at her once, his face like thunder, before turning back to his conversation. T.J. was determined not to cry over him or any guy. Sam was right, he wasn’t worth it. At least, he shouldn’t be worth it, but T.J. knew for sure that was the biggest lie she would tell herself all day.

* * *

Amy stood before Logan, tablet in hand and eyes fixed on the screen, as she reeled off the appointments and appearances he had scheduled for the next week. Had she been looking more at her boss than her computer, she might have realised he wasn’t entirely listening, but Amy was too focused to pay any mind right now.

“And that’s pushed your three o’clock with the accountant back to two on Thursday,” she said, running her thumb over the screen to switch pages. “Then Friday is actually pretty clear, unless you decide to change your mind on the charity ball in LA. Logan?” she prompted when he didn’t answer after a long pause.

Amy looked up at last and found Logan staring into space. It didn’t seem like he’d heard a word of what she had said. That wasn’t really like him, unless he was drunk, and at ten in the morning, she doubted that was the problem.

“Hey, boss!” she called, snapping her fingers near his face. “You okay?” she asked the moment she had his attention.

Logan smiled and shook his head. Amy was a good girl, as much his best friend these past few year as she was his assistant. She was the one person who knew things about him the rest of the world were not allowed to. She probably knew more about his money and schedule and such than even his lawyers, and certainly more than the press were ever privy to. She was like family in a way, all he had to lean on, at least until he came back to Neptune. Now he had a daughter, and an ex he never had quite gotten over. That ought to make things better and yet...

“How does life get more complicated just when you think it’s gonna slow down a little?” he asked wistfully.

“I work for Logan Echolls.” She rolled her eyes. “Ergo I never expect my life to slow down, and as such, am never disappointed when it doesn’t,” she told him with a smile, putting her tablet on the coffee table and sitting down on the opposite couch to Logan.

“What would I do without you, Amy?” he asked her, apparently rhetorically since he never gave her a chance to reply. “I’m not saying my life was ever simple, but dealing with the people here was never this hard.” He sighed heavily, looking as defeated as Amy had ever seen him.

She knew he wasn’t talking about people in general, not even about his daughter, Teresa Jane. Most people found Logan hard to understand, but not Amy. She’d been close to him long enough, she knew all his moods and how to read all the signs. She read him like a book on a daily basis. Today’s chapter, like so many before, was about the woman formerly known as Veronica Mars.

“You want me to call her and ask if she’s available to come over?” she asked, without ever naming the woman in question.

“I think it’s a little more manly if I call my ex myself,” he replied, suddenly noticing Amy’s smirk and wondering at it.

“Hmm, funny thing, I never did say who I was talking about,” she pointed out as she got up from her seat, taking a call that came through her ear-piece then. “Speak.”

Logan watched her walk away and couldn’t help but smile. He’d had a fair few amazing women in his life over the years and Amy was most definitely one of them. Not that he ever tried anything with her. Well, a couple of times they might’ve kissed a little bit, but that was the effects of alcohol and loneliness, they both knew that, and nothing had ever gone any further between them. Neither of them ever wanted it to actually.

“Logan?” said the woman herself as she came back across the room. “Um, weird coincidence.” She smiled. “Guess who’s at the door right now?”

Usually she would expect a smart-alec quip in response to such a question, but where Veronica was concerned, Logan was often just a little bit floored, especially since they’d been back in Neptune.

Amy didn’t need to ask about letting Veronica in to see Logan, she already knew he’d want to see her. Hell, they’d been talking about calling her all of two minutes ago.

“Thanks, Daniels. Mr Echolls will see her now,” she said into the comms channel at her ear, not even acknowledging Logan’s look of surprise before she swept out of the second exit to the living room.

She was just gone from sight when the main door opened and Veronica was ushered inside. Logan all but leapt up from the sofa, feeling stupidly nervous at the sight of his ex. He could face press conferences, award ceremonies, red carpets, and angry fans without a hint of fear. When it came to Veronica Mars, as she was always called in his head, Logan was back to being a nervous kid of seventeen, just terrified of screwing up at any moment.

“Hey, Veronica,” he said as nonchalantly as he could – it didn’t really come off.

“Hey,” she replied in kind with a vague sort of a wave that seemed stupid the moment she realised she was doing it. “I was just... No, I wasn’t just in the neighbourhood,” she called herself a liar before she got any further. “I came here on purpose, to see you, because I think we need a serious talk,” she said definitely, wondering why her usual confidence always deserted her when it came to her ex.

Veronica faced down armed robbers, bail jumpers, all kinds of bad guys on a regular basis without flinching. She had literally looked down the barrel of a gun and not even flinched, but facing Logan after all that had gone between them, both years ago and more recently, it was strangely terrifying.

“A serious talk... about T.J.?” Logan checked, genuinely thinking that would be the only reason she was here.

Veronica floundered at the sound of the question. He was giving her an easy out, but she couldn’t stand to take it, not again. The truth was she was here to talk about the two of them, the part of their relationship that actually had nothing to do with T.J., since it had started way back when they were even younger than their daughter was now.

“Honestly?” she said, shoving her hands in her pockets. “No. I’m not here about T.J., although you should know she’s handling everything really well. Not even a flinch when I dropped her off for school this morning,” she told him proudly. “What I’m actually here for, Logan, is to talk about us, and... and some of the things you said at the press conference.”

“About you being the only woman in my life I ever truly loved?” he blurted out, looking like he hadn’t meant to say it a second later. “It’s true, Veronica. I might lie about some things but never about that. Never to you.”

She nodded her head to signify she understood, and that she believed him too. Of course, that didn’t really change anything. She already heard the words he said and took them to be the truth, because that was Logan. He said things for effect sometimes, but he didn’t screw around when it came to talking about his heart. If he said he loved her then he did, and she couldn’t doubt it all, especially not in this moment as he gazed at her with such an intensity in his eyes.

“Logan, you know how I felt about you before,” she told him, shifting awkwardly under his intense gaze. “But everything is so different now-”

“Is it?” he challenged that before she had a chance to say anymore, moving close enough to touch her and yet not actually attempting to make any contact yet. “I’m still Logan, you’re still Veronica, and I’m pretty sure this is still Neptune.” He smirked in such a way as to remind Veronica entirely too much of their past. “Hell, we’ve been here in this room before, made out on a couch not three feet from where you’re standing-”

“Logan, we were seventeen,” she reminded him, blushing in a way she hadn’t in years.

“Why does that matter?” he countered, putting a hand to her face and making her look at him again. “I loved you then, Veronica, and I still love you now,” he told her so sincerely, she could’ve cried. “I know we’re a little different now, at least I hope I’ve grown up at least a small amount, but real love, it doesn’t go anywhere.”

She couldn’t argue with him, simply because she knew it had to be true. The same spark was still there, the urge to kiss him, the need to be with him. Half their lives ago they had stood here like this before, and yet all this time later it felt just the same. Yes, Veronica still loved Logan, and she believed he still loved her. She had come here today to figure this out, this thing that seemed so very complicated, and yet in this moment, it was so simple. When he dipped his head to kiss her, she let him, and she responded with a passion she hadn’t felt in too long.

The past came rushing back and over Veronica’s head like a tidal wave, but drowning really wasn’t something she was afraid of. With Logan’s arms holding her tight, lifting her up as much as he could to kiss her all the more, she was just fine. There were a lot of things about her teenage years she would sooner forget; this was never one of them.

Of course, the truth of the matter was, they really weren’t kids anymore. As good as she was sure it would feel to just let go and fall into this moment, into Logan’s bed too, Veronica knew that was a bad idea. Their relationship in high school had started out based on the physical, and that was fine back then. Now they were older and there were more people to consider than just themselves. She had come here to talk and they really did need to do that.

“Logan,” she gasped, forcing herself to move away just enough to breathe and to speak. “This is... it’s great, but it’s not everything,” she told him what he must already realise. “I would love for it to be this simple, that we just fall into each other’s arms like the last page of a fairy-tale romance novel, but life’s not like that.”

Her words and the serious look on her face pulled Logan up sharply. She was right, of course. She was Veronica Mars and therefore almost always right. There was more to consider than the overpowering want to take her to his bed and make love to her all day. They had to think about how this might impact on T.J., and her life, and his career. When compared with his feelings for Veronica, most things paled into insignificance, but there were things that couldn’t, most especially their daughter.

“You think T.J. will mind that her mom and dad still love each other?” asked Logan, smiling at the question he knew sounded ridiculous.

“I honestly don’t know.” Veronica shook her head, not yet feeling like she wanted or needed to be out of Logan’s arms. “I mean, even at twelve she understood that me and Leo were... well, we weren’t in love like we should’ve been.”

Logan wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to that. He hated the very idea of Veronica being with Leo in any way at all, not because the Sheriff was a bad guy exactly, or even because he was jealous, though of course he was. Mostly it hurt to think of Veronica settling for second best, for a man that couldn’t ever truly make her happy. Sure, it was her own fault in a lot of ways, and if she had told Logan the truth from the start they could’ve worked things out, maybe, hopefully. What Logan had to face up to was that he left that day, the morning after he and Veronica slept together for the final time. He left with no intention of ever coming back, despite the fact he professed to love her like nothing and no-one else in the whole world. That put just a little of the blame on his shoulders too, however small that amount might be compared to the weight Veronica had to bear.

“Okay,” he said at length. “How do you wanna do this? You wanna go back to the beginning? I could take you out to dinner, drop you off at home, worry about your dad hating me.” He smiled, only half-joking it seemed. “Anything you want, Veronica, I just... I want to be with you.”

It was like music to her ears in one way, and enough to make her burst into tears in the other. Veronica felt like he should be more mad at her than this, not love her so easily after all she’d done. Yet, she loved him, knew it before he ever came back but hadn’t admitted it to herself until the last couple of days. As much as she loved Leo, it never felt like this, and it was never going to. Logan was her soul-mate, her one true love, and all those other clichés that would normally make her want to puke at the very idea of them. It was so hard not to just let this happen, but she had to be the grown up, she just did.

“Logan, how can you even want to start all over again with me, after everything?” she asked desperately, fighting tears. “How can we make this work when every time we have a fight you have the biggest possible piece of ammunition to throw at me?” she asked him, one lone tear creeping down her cheek then.

“You think I’d do that?” he countered, looking hurt, but Veronica shook her head.

“I know you would,” she said definitely. “And not because you’re a bad person or because you don’t love me, but because it’s natural and normal for you to be mad about what happened with T.J.,” she told him. “You can’t just be over it that fast, it’s not possible.”

Logan slid his arms from around her body and turned away then. Holding her was heaven but facing reality was hell. She just had to keep on being right today, and he hated that. He knew he wasn’t completely over the whole thing with his daughter being kept from him, and he probably should be more angry about it. The truth was, his love for Veronica and the way he had missed her so much, seemed to over-ride everything else. It was a blessing and a curse to love that much, Logan decided, but either way he was stuck with it.

“What do you want me to say, Veronica?” he asked too loudly, one arm waving in emphatic gestures. “You want me to yell and scream? You want me to tell you what a horrible thing you did? You already know that!”

“Of course, I do!” she yelled back, fighting tears that were barely contained by now. “I should’ve called you or come to find you. It’s not like I couldn’t’ve tracked you down or... or I didn’t want to,” she cried openly now, one hand covering her mouth as the truth began to spill out in its purest form. “Logan, there were nights I laid in Leo’s arms and dreamt about you. Days when I ran computer searches to pinpoint exactly where you were so I could come find you and tell you the truth,” she admitted painfully. “I would look at T.J. and she would smile up at me, and you’d be there in her eyes. It almost killed me!” she yelled, tears streaming, voice strained, but she wasn’t done yet. “I tried to make everything okay, and instead I ruined so many lives. I almost destroyed myself, and T.J., and you, and... and I hate that I hurt either of you. I hate it so much, I can’t stand it.”

Logan didn’t need to hear anymore, and Veronica had no more to give in any case. Rushing towards her, he grabbed her up in his arms and just held on tight as she sobbed into his shoulder. It was only now that Logan realised what the real problem was here. Veronica wasn’t worried about him hating her or resenting her at all. Veronica’s real problem was that she hated herself for what she had done. She wasn’t this awful person she painted herself as, if she had been she would never feel so overpoweringly guilty for all she had done wrong. This hadn’t started the day he returned to Neptune, she’d lived with this dark shadow in her heart since before T.J. was even born, and he only now realised that as he held her tight and she cried like a baby all over his shirt.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he soothed her as best he could. “I know things didn’t work out how they should’ve back then, but we got a second chance, Veronica. This time we can make it work, we can,” he promised, kissing her hair.

Veronica so wanted to believe what he was saying. She loved Logan and missed him so much over the years. Seeing T.J. grow up into the perfect mix of the two of them, it was both painful and beautiful when she looked or spoke a certain way and showed signs of just exactly who her father was. Now the man himself was back and he was ready to be the father his teenage daughter needed, as well as the perfect man for Veronica, as he always had been somehow.

Holding on tight and letting him soothe away her tears, Veronica cried sixteen years’ worth of pain onto Logan’s shoulder. He was the only one who was ever going to make her feel better about any part of it, and when it was over, maybe they could start all over again and make it work. There was certainly no way they could mess it up anymore than they already had so far!

* * *

It had been a long day and T.J. just couldn’t wait to get out of school. She had run across Antonio in the halls more times than she cared to count, and would accuse him of following her around if she could bear to speak to him. At it was, he made it very clear he didn’t want to talk to or even look at her, moving away every time she caught his eye.

A part of T.J. wanted to apologise for using him, whilst another larger part wanted to ask him why the hell he was making such a big deal out of this. The way he spoke about Logan made her angry too. He had no right judging her father on Weevil’s opinion, if in fact that was where he got the idea that Logan was such a bad person. So far he had been nothing but nice to her, and T.J. was sure that after all these years both Logan and Weevil ought to be over whatever happened when they were in high school. That was more than her whole lifetime ago, after all.

“Hey, T.J.!” someone called, as she and Sam crossed the school parking lot.

At first she actually thought it might be Antonio. She was not only disappointed but shocked and a little afraid to realise the guy rushing over to her was followed by another person holding a camera.

“Oh my God!” she gasped, realising it was the press.

She turned to bolt, not even bothering to see if Sam was keeping up. A different person called her name then, but she didn’t look to see who was there. When that guy got in her way, she automatically reached for her taser to fend off what was sure to be another reporter.

“Hey, calm down, girl. You can’t have forgot me already?” said a voice that was suddenly familiar when T.J. stopped freaking out quite so much.

Looking up at the man holding her by the arms, her panicked expression turned into a wide smile.

“Oh my God! Uncle Wallace?”


	29. Chapter 29

“So, everything is cool with you, right?” T.J. checked as she brought her Uncle Wallace a soda and joined him on the couch.

He had easily bundled her and Sam into his car and got away from the press, dropping T.J.’s BFF off at her own house, before bringing his niece home. Now they were catching up, the way family did when reunited. Maybe they weren’t connected by blood, but Wallace was a favourite uncle anyway and always would be to Teresa Jane.

“Yeah, everything’s cool,” he confirmed. “Melissa and Toby are both great, and... well, I was gonna wait ‘til your mom got home but I guess you can be the first person in Neptune to know something this time, instead of the world’s greatest P.I. beatin’ you to it.” He grinned at his niece. “We’re having another baby.”

“Oh my God! That’s so great!” T.J. enthused, throwing herself across the seat to hug her uncle. “I’ll bet it’s a girl and then you’ll have the perfect little family.” She smiled brightly as they parted, and yet there was a pain behind her eyes he couldn’t fail to see.

“I know things must’ve been rough for you, T-girl,” Wallace said seriously, though he still used the same cute nickname he’d had for her since she was a little girl. “And for my part in it?” he continued, putting a hand over his heart. “I am truly, truly sorry.”

“I know.” T.J. nodded beside him, eyes trained on the carpet. “Everybody is sorry.”

It wasn’t what she said so much as the way she said it, Wallace knew that much. He had no doubt she coped pretty well with all that had been thrown at her. She was the product of Mars and Echolls, so by definition she was a tough cookie, but that didn’t alter the fact that she had to be hurting. Getting betrayed like that, by all the people closest to you, it left you with nowhere to turn.

“Y’know, your mom has always been and forever will be my best friend,” said Wallace, encouraging T.J. to look at him with a hand on hers, “but if you need to talk to me, about anything, about how you feelin’, I’m here,” he promised her. “We good, girl. I swear, I wouldn’t ever tell anybody something you told me in confidence.”

T.J. smiled in such a way as didn’t quite meet her eyes and was her mother in a moment. Wallace remembered sharing a couch with Veronica, promising her the same kind of help. To listen and not to judge, to keep secrets that only a best friend or sibling might keep. His niece, as T.J. would always be to him, needed a shoulder right now. As much as he was a part of the lie that had hurt her, he was somewhat removed compared to her parents and other family members.

“It’s fine, mostly.” T.J. sighed. “I mean, I’m not completely okay with it, obviously. Logan seems like a nice guy. He wants to get to know me, which is cool, but he’s not all... He’s not trying to buy me, or pressure me into calling him Dad, or whatever,” she explained, feeling dumb when her eyes started to well up without her meaning for it to happen. “I just... It’s hard, y’know? Because I love my mom and my dad, Leo,” she faltered over his name, sniffing hard as the tears came faster and ran down her cheeks. “I love them so much, but it’s like as soon as I was born everyone just started lying their asses off!” she said with a little more anger and spite than she originally intended. “I can’t just be okay about that, I can’t, and I try to be, but...”

Emotion took her breath away and Wallace opened his arms to her, holding her tight in a comforting hug.

“It’s okay, T-girl,” he promised her, rubbing her back. “You allowed to be hurt and upset. Nobody is gonna tell you that’s wrong.”

T.J. wanted to answer him, but the words wouldn’t come. In some ways she’d been holding this in since the day she was told the truth. Sure, she had cried then too, and since in fact, but she hadn’t really let out her true feelings until now. She was mad at her mom, mad at the dad who raised her, mad at everyone who lied to her for sixteen years. She hated that her life had been turned upside down by everybody else, and whilst they didn’t exactly just expect her to be okay about it, there wasn’t really much they could do about it now except apologise, which they had all done multiple times.

Wallace understood, even though the situation T.J. was in wasn’t exactly a common or relatable one. It was hard to realise a part of your life was a lie. He remembered when his mom first admitted that Jack Fennel wasn’t his real father. At least in T.J.’s case her real dad wasn’t such a bad guy. Sure, Logan and Wallace hadn’t always gotten along, and movie-stars weren’t necessarily the most stable role models, but he was willing to admit that Logan Echolls didn’t seem to be doing so bad these days. He certainly seemed to have been treating T.J. in a decent way since he found out the truth. What Wallace was really wondering now was how well the elusive Mr Echolls was getting along with Veronica.

“Hey, T.J.,” called the very woman Wallace had been thinking of in that moment. “I stopped by the deli place on main and picked up-”

Veronica stopped short of finishing her sentence about dinner as she stepped into the living room. There was her daughter, crying on the shoulder of perhaps the last man she expected to be sitting on her couch. Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t entirely pleased to see him.

“Wallace!” She smiled widely, tears coming to her own eyes as she looked at him.

“Hey, V,” he returned the look but not quite so genuinely as he continued to rub T.J.’s back. “We, er... Me and my niece here got talking about how things have been around here. She got a little upset.”

“I’m fine,” the teen herself said then, sitting up fast and wiping her cheeks on the backs of her hands. “Actually, I have homework. I’ll catch up with you later, Uncle Wallace.” She smiled a weak kind of a smile, and then darted past her mother and up the stairs without another word.

“I feel like I turned over two pages at once.” Veronica frowned then as she glanced to the stairs up which T.J. had disappeared and then back at her BFF.

The question in her mind was written all over her face, and Wallace saw it plainly. He got up off the couch and came over to her, giving her a hug that she returned on automatic.

“It’s good to see you, girl,” he assured her, before looking her in the eye with a too serious expression, “but we need to talk, Veronica Mars, and it gotta be now.”

* * *

T.J. took a little while to gain some composure, but even once the tears stopped she wasn’t quite ready to face the world yet, or even her mom and Uncle Wallace. She decided she may as well get to that homework she’d been talking about, and had just spread out her books on her desk when her cell started vibrating on her bed. She hoped it wasn’t Sam. Not that she didn’t love her best friend, but if they got to talking they could be on there for hours, and the studying really did need to be done, especially if T.J. wanted to spend plenty of time with her uncle later on. She was surprised when he realised who was actually calling.

“Hey, Dad,” she greeted Leo as she always had, finding it more natural than anything else. “Is something wrong?”

“Why would anything be wrong, T.J.?” he asked her with a smile. “I can’t just call my little girl to talk now?”

She had a feeling he didn’t just say ‘little girl’ to be cute or make her protest. The word ‘daughter’ might be a little tricky at the moment, and he was doing his best to make this all run as smoothly as possible. T.J. could still be mad at him if she let herself. Mostly it seemed easier not to.

“So, what did you wanna talk about?” she asked, sniffling a little, her nose still snuffly after all the crying.

“Well, I... Are you okay?” Leo checked then. “You sound like you’ve been crying or something.”

“I’m fine. I just sneezed before,” she lied.

T.J. couldn’t help thinking it was only fair that she tell him a few untruths. Nothing was going to make up for the lie he and Veronica had made of her life. Sure, it was petty, but if she started telling him what was really up, there would be a fight or more tears. T.J. couldn’t deal with any of that right now. Unfortunately, the man who raised her like a daughter could tell, even via the phone line, when she was being untruthful. Maybe it was how well he knew her, maybe because he was the sheriff.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” he urged her. “I know things are weird lately, but if something is wrong, you can always talk to me.”

“I know,” T.J. replied shakily, voice cracking and betraying all the emotions racing around inside her. “I just... I don’t get why everyone lied to me so much,” she told him honestly, flopping down into her desk chair. “I mean, I get it that you guys didn’t think Logan would wanna be a father, or that I’d be better off not being constantly chased by the press or whatever,” she went on, fighting the urge to burst into tears like a baby all over again, “but what gave you the right to decide that? How could you just...? How could you lie to my face for sixteen years and say you were my dad when you knew you weren’t?”

She barely got the question out before her voice abandoned her completely and she choked back a sob. Tears streamed down her face and it broke Leo’s heart imagining the state she was in from the sound of her voice. He hated this. Hated himself for ever hurting the one person who he loved just as much as he had always loved Veronica. Unfortunately, Teresa Jane was right in what she said. They had made a wrong decision in keeping her real father from her all this time, in letting her live a charade her whole life, until their hand was forced and the truth had to come out.

“Teresa, you will never know how sorry I am for hurting you,” he told her, swallowing hard. “I wish I could explain better why your mom and me did what we did, but it’s not that simple. At the time, we figured Logan wouldn’t want to be involved, and that was wrong of us to make that decision for him, I know. I just loved your mom so much, always have and always will,” he told her. “You were just a perfect part of her, I couldn’t help but love you too, then when you grew up... Teresa, I just couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.”

T.J. couldn’t answer because she was crying to hard. She knew Leo loved her and she did love him too.He was the man who raised her and was there for her the whole course of her life. She didn’t want that to change, but there was no choice in it. A part of her just couldn’t feel the same about him now she knew the truth, that her real father was in fact Logan Echolls, and everyone else was a liar. She guessed she would have to learn to deal like so many other kids at Neptune High. Step parents, foster parents, absent parents, it was just the way of the world these days. In comparison to most, she was pretty lucky. Where some people she knew had just one parent or none at all, she had three at this point, plus a whole rake of aunts and uncles, and her grandpa too.

“T.J.? Are you still there?” asked Leo when she was quiet too long.

“Yeah,” she forced out, sniffing hard. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m sorry.”

“You, of all people, have nothing to be sorry for, baby,” he assured her. “Just know that we all understand that this is tough for you. We’re all sorry, and we all love you. I’m including me and your mom and Logan in that too.”

T.J. was nodding her head in understanding even though it was pointless since Leo couldn’t see her. She fought to find her voice and give a verbal answer eventually.

“I know,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m fine, really. I can deal,” she told him, trying to convince herself as much as him, they were both fully aware of that.

Still, it was clear to Leo that she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. It all had to be her choice, always, he was determined on that. The guilt he felt at what he and Veronica had done was never going to go away, and neither should it, but they all had to find a way to move on. Any way they could do that where T.J. suffered the least amount was the best way as far as Leo was concerned.

“So, you called me,” she said in his ear then. “Was it for something important?”

The man she had always called Dad up to now was so quiet in response to her question that T.J. wondered if he had heard her, or if their call had been cut short somehow. She was about to ask again when she heard him clear his throat and let out a long breath.

“Um, yeah, kind of,” he admitted at length. “I was... Well, y’know how much your mom has always meant to me, and that’s never gonna change,” he promised, “but I was thinking about maybe dating again and, well, after everything else you’ve been through lately-”

“Dad, it’s fine,” T.J. cut in to his awkward speech. “I mean, I have friends with divorced parents, step parents, all kinds of situations. I’m not gonna have some kind of breakdown if you buy some woman dinner,” she assured him.

Leo wasn’t sure if he was glad about that or not. A small part of him that he would rather ignore wondered vaguely if she didn’t care because he wasn’t really her dad anyway. Of course, he knew better than to believe such a thing. T.J. was not so unfeeling or vindictive. It was true, he had hurt her, and in the same way Veronica, Keith, even Wallace or Mac, had to shoulder some blame for the pain T.J. was suffering. Still, she called him Dad and had promised she would always love him as such. That always part wasn’t really something he could hold her to, but for now, he’d take what he could get.

“Okay,” he said eventually. “Thank you, Teresa, for being such a grown up about all of this. I’m very proud of you.”

It wasn’t just about her being okay with his dating, they both knew that. It was equally as much to do with how she was handling the truth of her parentage. Neither of them needed to say it and so they didn’t.

“So, you have a particular lady in mind for your new foray into dating?” T.J. asked, even managing to find a smile Leo could swear he heard in her words.

“Um, no. Well, maybe,” he foundered a little, clearly not expecting the question. “Trust me, sweetheart, you’ll be the first to know if anything actually happens.”

T.J. believed that and she was grateful, even if she wasn’t sure why. In spite of everything, she would hate to suddenly lose Leo from her life. He had been her dad for as long as she had been alive, even if they shared no blood or DNA. She bore his name and he had been there for her all these years. It was nice, just for a little while, to talk to each other as if nothing had changed, even if it was all a lie.

* * *

“I’m not judging, Veronica. I ain’t got no right to do that,” Wallace told his friend, a hand over his own heart, “but you gotta keep talking to that girl, letting her know you’re there for her. She’s all kinds of mixed up by what she knows now. You just turned her life on it’s head, girl!”

“I know,” Veronica agreed, pushing her hair back off her face with a sigh. “Wallace, I know I screwed up, and believe me, I know I deserve the enormous fall out, but... I’m so glad you’re here.” She smiled in spite of everything, reaching to grip his hand. “I missed you so much. I always do.”

“Miss you too, Veronica,” her friend assured her, turning his hand over to squeeze hers back, “but I ain’t gettin’ into this mushy stuff with you anymore. We too old for all that,” he told her as if he were mad about it, though that smile of his always shone through.

Veronica laughed, so glad to be able to do that rather than cry. So many tears had been shed recently in this house. Herself and T.J to name but two had bawled their hearts out so much, it was becoming more than even a daily occurrence. It was truth enough that Veronica herself deserved to suffer, she knew that, but Logan had made her see today that she couldn’t go on torturing herself for the rest of her life. She had done wrong, and it made her a better person to know it and feel the associated guilt. Still, life went on, and it wasn’t going to help Teresa Jane to have a mother that cried and played the ‘woe is me’ card all the time. By blood, she was a Mars, damn it, and it was time Veronica started acting like one again.

“So,” she said turning to Wallace again. “Can you stay long? I’d love to have time to catch up properly. It’s been way too long.”

“I’m hoping to steal your couch for maybe a week?” her friend admitted. “I figured you girls might need a little Fennel spirit in the house, but seven days is probably all I can spare right now.”

“If you’re staying it’s in the guest room, not on the couch.” Veronica rolled her eyes at what he ought to know was a dumb suggestion. “But I am sorry you can’t stay longer than a week.”

“Well, maybe I would’ve any other time,” Wallace told her. “Thing is, I don’t wanna leave Melissa alone to deal with Toby on her own to long, not now she pregnant again.”

The grin on his face was contagious when Veronica heard his wonderful news. She grabbed him up in a hug then, congratulating him on the baby she knew he and Melissa really wanted. They had always planned to have at least two children, and the truth was they could definitely afford it since Wallace got promoted again.

“I am so happy for you,” said Veronica with genuine joy as they parted.

“Yeah, well, I want to be so happy for you too,” he told her right back. “You gotta figure out the how and everything, but I only want good things for you and T-girl, okay?”

“I know.” She nodded her agreement. “We’ll work on it, I promise,” she swore solemnly.

“And what about the elusive Logan Echolls, star of stage and screen?” her friend asked her seriously. “He gonna be part of this future happiness you working on?”

It was the one question he’d been wanting to ask this whole time but wasn’t entirely sure he should. The truth was, Veronica really didn’t look like she had a real answer she could give when he finally gave her the chance.

“Maybe,” she admitted eventually. “I... We’re still trying to figure that out too.”

Wallace only nodded in reponse to that. There was a wistful sort of a look in his best friend’s eyes and a hint of a dreamy smile on her lips. Maybe nobody else would’ve seen it, but after knowing her all this time and being as close as brother and sister might be, he knew what it meant. Before too long, he was almost certain Veronica and Logan would get to rekindling what they had oh so many years ago. Maybe, just maybe, now was the time when it could work out. Despite Wallace’s reservations about the guy in the past, he hoped that Logan and Veronica had finally both grown up enough to make this thing work. It would be about time.


	30. Chapter 30

Antonio ought to be feeling pretty proud of himself today. He had gotten a lot of attention when he rode into school this morning on his completed motorcycle at last. The guys were impressed, some of the girls even more so. It was kind of cool being in the middle of things, having so many people make a fuss. At the same time, he felt a little sad about it. He had hoped that the first person to see him in all his biker glory would be T.J. and that she’d be every kind of impressed. As it was, they still weren’t talking, and Antonio was fast beginning to realise it was probably as much his fault as hers.

Weevil had been helping him run some final checks on the bike last night and they got to talking about what had happened with Antonio and Teresa Jane. It was in the explaining of the circumstances that the teen began to notice he’d been foolish. Sure, T.J. had lied, but given all she had gone through, it was hardly surprising things had gotten out of hand. Besides, her lie hadn’t really done him any harm.

Antonio had quite decided to catch up with T.J. sometime today and have a serious talk. Unfortunately, she seemed to be avoiding him or maybe his timing was just off. He missed her at lunch, didn’t get an opportunity to grab her between classes, and it was after the final bell that he thought he might finally get his chance.

Sat atop his bike, Antonio watched the main doors to the school building. Just as soon as he saw T.J. and Sam exit, he would ride on over, offering to take Teresa Jane someplace where they could talk. It was a long-shot. She might still be pissed at him and say no, but he was pretty good at being charming and persuasive when he needed to be, and that was even before Weevil gave him sound advice about how to treat women.

When T.J. suddenly came into view, Antonio immediately noticed something was wrong. He had one up on the girl herself who seemed completely oblivious. The truth was, in deep conversation with her best friend, Teresa Jane really hadn’t a clue she was being watched by anyone, until suddenly a light flashed a few feet away, catching her attention. It could just have been the sun glancing off the mirror or window of a car, and yet somehow she knew it wasn’t, before the photographer ever cleared the corner of the building.

“Oh my God!” she gasped, realising too late that this was not a single person but a whole crowd of paparazzi lying in wait for her.

The melee got the attention of other students, many rushing over, presumably to get their fifteen minutes of fame or similar. T.J. didn’t know where to turn. She soon lost Sam in the crush of people, and cameras flashing in her face left her blind when she tried to find her way towards the gates and out of school. Even then she wasn’t sure where she could run to that the paparazzi wouldn’t follow. In a complete panic, she was aware of nothing else, until suddenly through the chatter of people and calling of her name, there was another sound. When she looked towards it, T.J. half expected to see Uncle Weevil making a grand entrance. She got a real surprise when she realised who her knight in black leather really was.

“T.J.! Catch!” Antonio yelled as he pulled up a few feet away and threw a helmet into her hands.

How she caught it, T.J. had no idea, just as she wasn’t clear on how she got herself from her present spot to the bike without incident. The next clear thought she had was how good it felt to be making her escape, especially with her arms wrapped tight around the man of her dreams. The engine of Antonio’s bike revved beneath them, and they screamed out of the school parking lot like a bat out of hell. The press didn’t stand a chance of catching them.

* * *

“When you said you needed me to come over for a meeting, I kind of expected it to be work-related,” said Mac as she fell back against the pillows beside Dick.

“Well then, I guess that’s the part where your smarts ran out on you.” He grinned in response, dipping his head to kiss her bare shoulder. “Who wants to work when we can play?” he asked with a look that could only be interpreted one way, especially after what they had just done.

Mac sighed. She couldn’t mind that this wonderful man that she had fallen completely in love with wanted to bring her to his bed and prove how much he wanted her. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure she was okay with them spending her working hours here like this all the time. It was tantamount to being paid for sleeping with the boss, and that was not in the least bit classy.

“You okay?” Dick checked when he realised his girlfriend was frowning. “Macky?”

“I’m sorry,” she apologised for apparently scaring him, albeit only briefly. “I just think... maybe I shouldn’t work at Casablancas Enterprises anymore,” she said too seriously.

He didn’t understand, that much showed on his face, but was even more obvious a moment later. He sat up fast and literally gasped at her announcement.

“Dude, that is not cool!” he told her definitely, the old familiar phrasing almost enough to make her laugh, even in such a serious moment. “You are so needed at my company, Macky. I don’t want you working for some other guy-”

“Dick, c’mon,” she interrupted, shifting to sit up beside him and putting a hand to his cheek. “I can’t work for you now that we’re... together,” she explained. “This is all a little too Pretty Woman right now, y’know?”

It took a second or two for Dick to get it, and when he did, he still seemed hell-bent on arguing.

“You are so not a hooker!” he told her, as if she hadn’t already noticed and in fact made that point. “And for the record, you’re way hotter than Julia Roberts.”

Mac smiled at the compliment, even leaned in to kiss his lips for the effort. Still, it didn’t change the fact that she meant what she said about their current situation.

“I know it probably seems crazy to you.” She sighed. “It’s not an easy decision to make, but the way I see it, we have two choices. Either I give up my job at the company, or we call it a day on this relationship before it’s hardly started.”

Dick felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Losing Mac from his company would be a blow, he knew that for sure, but losing her from his life entirely was unthinkable. His heart hammered in his chest at the very idea of her climbing out of his bed right now and never being back here again.

It wasn’t just about the sex, of course, that he had come to realise very quickly. His falling for Mac had started oh so many years ago, but the final sprint to home had been hard and fast. Suddenly he knew he loved her and would never have another woman in his life he could care about this way. She couldn’t leave, he couldn’t let that happen.

“I will write you the worlds greatest reference, babe,” he promised her so solemnly she could’ve cried. “Seriously, because... because I so have to be with you.”

Mac didn’t have a way to answer what had to be one of the most beautiful things Dick had ever said to her. Instead, she moved in close enough to kiss him again, not minding at all as he pulled her body on top of his, their passion reigniting in a moment. It didn’t thrill her to have to change jobs, but she knew it was the right thing to do, the only solution in fact. Falling in love with Dick Casablancas had never once been a plan, if Mac ever really had one when it came to her future and a man that might be in it. Now she knew for sure that he was all she wanted. If that made her crazy, so be it.

The couple rolled over in the bed, unaware of anything but each other. Their legs were caught up in the bedclothes, and they didn’t even notice the TV remote was down there until suddenly the screen slid out from its hiding place in the footboard. A selection of voices rang out from whatever station had started playing:

“...it is assumed that Teresa Jane Echolls knows the mystery man that she left Neptune High with, on a ‘76 Black Phantom motorcycle, though no positive identification has yet been made. One thing’s for sure, T.J. seems as determined to create a media stir as her father, Oscar winner Logan Echolls, ever was in his own teenage years. Back to you, Gary.”

Despite their deep interest in getting as close as possible to each other once again, both Mac and Dick found their attention diverted when they heard mention of both T.J. and Logan on the entertainment news. They scrambled apart and turned towards the television with twin looks of astonishment as they observed the wobbly footage of Veronica’s daughter riding off into the sunset with some biker they couldn’t make out at this range.

“Oh my God!” Mac gasped her hand going to her mouth a moment.

“Who the hell?” asked Dick in definite confusion. “Whoever that dude is, Logan should beat his ass down for kidnapping his daughter.”

“Of course not/” His girlfriend rolled her eyes, simultaneously socking him the shoulder and scrambling to find the lost remote. “That’s not a kidnapper. I’m pretty sure it’s Antonio, the guy T.J. is pretty much in love with? I did tell you, Dick.”

“Huh,” he replied dumbly, as Mac switched channels until she found another one that was covering the same story. “Were you naked when you told me? ’Cause that’s pretty distracting, babe. I cannot be expected to listen when that’s happening-”

“Shh!” she insisted, waving a hand towards him, her eyes fixed on the T.V.

This alternate report gave a very similar account to the first. No name for the motorcycle rider, but it was certainly clear he had been a saviour not a bad guy. He got T.J. out of a nasty situation with some very determined paparazzi.

Mac couldn’t help but smile. It was weirdly romantic, a little like a knight on a mighty steed coming to sweep the damsel in distress up into his arms and ride away. A modern day version of that still had to feel pretty good from T.J.’s point of view. Of course, she couldn’t imagine Veronica or Leo, and most especially Logan, would be happy about this. T.J. running off would be frowned upon, but running off with Weevil’s step-son? Logan was most likely about to go through the roof!

* * *

“Logan, I’m doing my best here, but that’s the tenth call in as many minutes asking about T.J. and her mystery ‘cool rider’,” Amy explained fast before the phone had a chance to ring again. “The press are on the doorstep, E! want an exclusive-”

“I get it, Amy, okay?” he snapped a her without really meaning too, still pacing the room as he had been for the last half hour.

News of T.J.’s riding off into the sunset with a guy he had to assume was Antonio Juarez had been all over the T.V. before Logan had a chance to get it from the horses mouth or anyone he actually knew personally. He and Veronica had pretty much crossed telephone lines as they tried to call each other about what had occurred and she was now on her way over. Logan had sent a car, the bullet-proof kind with tinted windows and a security detail. It would bring her to the Echolls house safely, leaving Wallace back at her home in case T.J. did show up. So far the teen wasn’t answering her cell, not calls or texts, so there was no telling where exactly she was or why.

Logan understood her wanting to bolt from the press, of course he did. He was going to have a serious conversation with Van Clemmons about keeping the paps out of school grounds. Hell, Logan wouldn’t mind so such but he had offered to pay for extra security at Neptune High, only to be told in no uncertain terms that the faculty and their own team of security could handle anything. Clearly that was untrue.

Right now that couldn’t matter. The important thing was tracking T.J. down, bringing her home, and ensuring something like this never did happen again.

“Veronica is here,” said Amy as she picked up a message coming over her comms channel. “And Sheriff D’Amato too.”

Logan rolled his eyes at that. Sure, in cases such as these it was normal for the local law to get involved, but he was too smart to think for a moment that was why Leo had insisted on coming along. He had raised T.J. as his own daughter these past sixteen years and probably still thought of her as such. Logan could hate him for it if he hadn’t always treated T.J. so well, if he didn’t think she would hate him if he popped her fake father in the mouth... again.

“Logan, how did this happen?” asked Veronica as she came rushing into the room, her face pale but her eyes showing determination. “I thought you had extra security covering T.J.?”

“Hey, Veronica. How’re you today?” he replied sarcastically, eyes hardening when he glanced towards Leo. “I did what I could. Clemmons told me Neptune High had it covered. Clearly it was the wrong time to let out the trusting side of my nature.”

“Well, at least we know she got away clean, no trouble,” said Leo, hoping it was helpful but not really believing it. “This guy she went off with, Veronica said she thinks it’s a kid T.J. knows.”

“Antonio Juarez.” His ex-wife nodded. “I’m pretty sure she’s safe with him.”

“Huh!” Logan scoffed at such a statement, though he didn’t bother to explain himself, even when three pairs of eyes looked at him for such an explanation.

“It’s not my place to say,” said Amy, almost wishing she hadn’t begun when all the attention came flying back to her, “ut, um, T.J. seems like a sensible girl, and if she knows this young man she rode out with... It’s not like they can get into too much trouble, right?”

Logan and Veronica shared a knowing look then that Leo understood as well. Oh, the trouble those two had gotten into at sixteen, the trouble he had been pulled into himself whilst he was still the doting deputy to Veronica’s snarktastic teenage self. It was hard for him to even think about it, but Teresa Jane was born of Mars and Echolls. As much as he’d like to think he and Veronica raised her right, if T.J. had developed even half the knack for getting herself into trouble that her biological patents had in their past, it hardly beared thinking about where this little trip of hers could end.

* * *

The motorcycle pulled up at the end of the lonely road overlooking Dog Beach. This time of day there weren’t too many people around up here, and that made it a perfect spot for a pair of runaways. T.J. sat back a little from Antonio and pulled off her helmet whilst he did the same. They didn’t move any more for a long moment, neither sure what they were going to say when they finally had to talk.

The past week, they had mostly avoided each other. Neither had behaved too well since the night at her sweet sixteen when he had kissed her and told her how much she meant to him. T.J.’s new status of fame had affected not just her, but Antonio as well. She had figured he was done with trying to be her friend, never mind anything else. Now she was thinking she must have it all wrong after the way he saved her from the clamouring press hoards.

“I guess I should feel honoured,” she said to his back that was still all she could see without moving. “First person to get a ride on the new bike, huh?”

She was smiling when Antonio caught sight of her in the side mirror, and that made him want to do the same, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to. Sure, he had just saved T.J. from the press, and yes, he still liked her a lot, but that didn’t change the fact there were things they needed to talk about here. He had stuff to say, things she needed to hear, questions he needed her to answer.

“We should keep moving,” he said, swinging his leg over the bike and encouraging her to get off too. “Pretty sure the bike is fine here, but we should go.”

T.J. nodded in agreement, but his solemn expression didn’t thrill her. She ought to have known that what had happened with them couldn’t be fixed with a bike ride and flippant comment accompanied with a smile. Still, here alone together seemed like a perfect time and place to figure things out, if it were possible to do so. She really hoped it was.


	31. Chapter 31

Though she had checked the road behind her at least six times when they first left Antonio’s motorcycle behind, T.J. started to relax about half way down the rocks to the beach. The sun was shining, there were no crowds to bother her, and the salty air on her face felt good. This place could easily feel like freedom, especially after the crush of the paparazzi back at school, especially when she looked over at Antonio scrambling down the rocks beside her.

It had been days since they talked, since he last looked at her with something other than disappointment, and yet today he had saved her. When T.J. really needed a friend to get her out of trouble, here he was. It gave her hope that he could forgive her, and that he might be willing to admit maybe he over-reacted a little too. There was no way to know until one of them actually started talking. Neither seemed eager in this moment.

Antonio in his solid boots reached the sand first and turned back to see where T.J. was. Her own path down was a little more complicated in her less than sturdy footwear, and jagged rocks stood between her and safety.

“Come on,” he urged her, reaching out to grab her and lift her effortlessly down beside him.

T.J. stood stock still a moment, Antonio’s hands still at her waist as she looked up into his eyes. Man, she almost managed to block out how hot he was when he was mad at her and she was similarly angry. Now she was starting to forget all that, and could only let her mind wander back to her sweet sixteen party when they had last been this close, when Antonio had kissed her and the whole world had faded away.

“Thanks,” she said in all but a whisper that she couldn’t recognise as her own voice. “And I don’t just mean for the help over the rocks,” she assured him. “You saved me back there, with the press and everything. I appreciate it.”

Antonio wasn’t really out to gain her gratitude, though he was glad enough to have it all the same. Maybe it had just been easier for a while there to pretend she had turned into a monster he couldn’t deal with. The truth was so different. Despite the fame and fortune to come raining down on her head, she was the same girl as before. She was beautiful and sweet, just complicated enough to be interesting, but not so high maintenance that she’d drive him crazy. She was his T.J. who he had wanted on some level from the first second he laid eyes on her, that he so wanted to just kiss right now, but he wouldn’t.

“C’mon,” he said, releasing his grip on her body but picking up her hand instead before she had a chance to be disappointed.

There was a smile on T.J.’s lips as she let Antonio lead her down over the sand. They were headed down under the boardwalk a short distance away, somewhere out of sight and out of mind. It was a good plan, a place they could be alone and talk, or whatever else they might want to do. Nobody would think to look for them here, and nobody ought to stumble upon them by accident either.

T.J. was almost glad that the paparazzi had come after her today. It was worth it to get some time alone with Antonio and hopefully figure things out. His hand wrapped around her own was cause for hope if nothing else. It brought a smile to her lips that really wouldn’t shift as they headed down under the boardwalk in silence still.

* * *

Logan was still pacing. It wasn’t helping anybody, but he was doing it anyway. Veronica was still at least but refusing to sit down. She seemed to be in the process of re-calling everyone she knew for a third time, just in case they knew where T.J. had gone. It was Sam who had confirmed that her friend did indeed leave school on the back of Antonio’s bike. Beyond that, she had no idea where they might’ve gone, though she suggested a few possible places. Keith was on the case of checking all the teens usual haunts, regularly calling back to Leo to confirm no positive sightings yet. It was practically a military operation, with Wallace staking out the house, and Amy constantly batting away the media calls and trying to help with finding T.J where she could at the same time. Into the middle of all this, walked the very last person Logan wanted to see right now.

“Before you say anything, this ain’t about you and me, Echolls,” said Weevil definitely as he strolled into the room.

“How the hell did you even get past security?” his old enemy said coldly.

Veronica anticipated the blows these two would come to, shifting to stand in between them immediately. Leo clearly saw the trouble coming too as he got to his feet, glancing warily between Logan and Weevil.

“Your girl told the suits on the door to let me in,” the biker gestured towards Amy who ducked quickly out of view behind the Sheriff. “Hey, don’t go gettin’ all high and mighty, Echolls. I got a right to be here too.”

“Where’s Lena?” asked Veronica before anyone else could speak.

“Outta town visiting her sister,” Weevil confirmed. “We talked. I calmed her down, promised her I’d come on over to the ivory tower and sit with you folks ‘til we figured this out.”

“Your girlfriend’s son kidnapped my daughter. What’s to figure out?” asked Logan, eyes hard and cold as steel.

Weevil glared back at him and suddenly Veronica felt she had gone back in time. It was ridiculous to think that these two grown men of almost forty were about to come to blows again. Sure, she could see why Logan would be protective of his daughter, and equally why Weevil would want to defend the boy he was helping to raise. At the same time, she knew that T.J. and Antonio had very little to do with the Echolls vs. Navarro feud. That ran much deeper and way back in time, before she herself dated Logan, before she got to know Weevil, way back to Lilly Kane.

“Please, can we not do this?” she said, putting a hand to her friend’s chest as he continued to shoot a death-glare at his enemy. “Eli, c’mon,” she urged him, knowing her use of his real name always got his attention. “This isn’t the time or the place for old grudges.”

“You tell him that, V.” He gestured towards Logan even as he met the blonde’s eyes. “He’s the one accusing Antonio of kidnapping and crap. You know damn well T.J. got on that bike of her own free will!”

“I know.” Veronica nodded once. “Logan, she would not have gone with just anybody. She’s not that girl,” she promised as she turned to her ex.

“We raised her better than that,” Leo confirmed, immediately wishing he’d kept his mouth shut when Logan glared his way instead.

There was silence for a few tense moments, until finally the man of the house spoke up again.

“Fine,” he ground out. “The cholo can stay,” he said with a smirk that was all too nasty, “but me and your boy are gonna have a conversation when we find him and _my_ daughter,” he over-emphasised the ‘my’ part for Leo more than anyone, the Sheriff was sure.

Amy put a hand to Leo’s shoulder in some kindly sympathetic gesture. Nobody noticed except him alone. Nobody ever really noticed the little blonde in the background making sure everything in Logan’s life ran smoothly, at least not until now. Amy knew it was not a good time to be getting a crush, and Leo was the least appropriate candidate for such a thing, but he was just such a nice guy, and they got along really well the few times they talked.

“Amy!” Logan snapped her out of deep thought in a moment. “Did you hear what our guest just said?” he asked her, and the way he spat out the word guest proved he meant Weevil.

“I’m sorry, Mr Navarro, I missed that,” she apologised, looking towards the man in question.

“I was just sayin’, Antonio likes the beach. It’s like his thinking place or whatever.” He waved his hand in some vague gesture. “If he took T.J. somewhere he figured was safe or quiet maybe, I’m guessin’ it’d be a beach.” He shrugged.

“Okay then.” Amy nodded once, going straight into co-ordinator mode once again.

Before long, Leo had a couple of trustworthy deputies headed for the nearest beach to them, whilst Veronica redirected Keith to another, and Amy set two security guards off to a couple more. Everything was in motion, it couldn’t take much longer to find the runaway teens. Of course, they had to hope that the press didn’t get to them first and make things a whole lot worse.

* * *

“You brought me here, kinda made me think you wanted to talk or something,” T.J. told Antonio, leaning back against a post beneath the boardwalk. “So far you’ve barely looked at me.”

The young man in question was facing the water, looking out into the sea as if the answers to life, the universe, and everything might be out there. The truth was, he just didn’t know where to start with this girl anymore. Apologising didn’t come naturally somehow, and neither did admitting he might’ve been wrong. At the same time, bawling T.J. out for her behaviour wasn’t something Antonio was looking forward to doing either. She deserved it, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“Antonio, please,” she urged him, suddenly much closer, and he only really knew it when she reached for his arm and pulled him around to face her.

Maybe it was the events of the day that made her brave; his rescuing her the way he had, and voluntarily holding her hand as they walked down across the beach to where they stood now. He had to care about her regardless of whatever else had happened between them. She just wanted to know what he was thinking.

“I dunno what to say to you, T.J.” He sighed as he looked down into her face. “Everything was so simple that night at your party, but now... now it’s all screwed up.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” She shook her head definitely. “I know the world knowing about Logan being my father is a huge deal, nobody knows that more than I do,” she said definitely, “but it doesn’t change how I... It doesn’t change us.”

That confidence T.J. had found just moments before was diminishing by the second now he was looking at her. Antonio’s eyes gazing into her own was enough to fix her to the spot and melt her into a pool of goo on the ground at the same time. God, he was hot, and sweet, and everything she wanted right now. It was crazy how she could even find time in her head and her heart for a boyfriend with everything ele going on, but she had. T.J. was falling for this guy faster than she ever fell for anyone before, and she so didn’t want anything to screw it up.

“You say that, but it does change things, T.J.” Antonio shook his head. “You’re like this famous person now, and everybody loves you. The 09er girls, the rich white guys. I... I can’t compete with that.”

It hurt to even say it, that was the truth. Antonio had confidence in himself, at least he came off that way, but when it came to comparing himself with the kind of people who were showing an interest in T.J now, he didn’t stand a chance. That was how he saw it, and maybe that was why he’d behaved so badly towards her lately. Her minor lie about him was a perfect excuse to walk away before he ended up looking a fool when T.J. decided she didn’t need him now she had all her fancy friends and her pick of any guy in school.

“You really think that?” she asked, completely shocked by the statement. “Antonio, seriously. I’m nobody,” she insisted, succeeding in getting his wavering attention back on her face. “Okay, yeah, so apparently my biological father is a movie star, but that doesn’t change who I am,” she told him, a hand to her chest. “I’m still me, still the same Teresa Jane I was last week. I’m the one you met a while back and thought was worth spending time with, in spite of the fact I spent our first meeting crying all over you.” 

She blushed at the memory and he smiled at how cute it was. Sure, in real terms, T.J. had looked kind of a mess that first night he ran into her, but it didn’t stop her drawing him in. She was always beautiful, and he had learnt that beauty existed both inside and out. She was this amazing person that he only wanted to get to know better and be close to. So far, one thing after another had ruined their chances to connect, to date, to do anything they wanted to do, except for that one night at her sweet sixteen, of course.

“Can we please, for thirty seconds, just forget that the press want to chase me, and that I told a little white lie about you to Sam,” she practically begged him.

“So long as we can also forget that I’ve been a jerk this past week,” he agreed with a shrug.

“Deal.” T.J. smiled at his response, turning serious again in a second as she met his eyes. “So, all that forgotten, what’s left?” she asked too softly.

Antonio’s hand moved up to her cheek, tipping her head back a little as he leaned in closer. She knew he was going to kiss her and her eyes fell shut in sweet anticipation until finally his lips found hers.

It felt so good, just like T.J. remembered from the night of her party, but better somehow. There was nobody to spy on them now, no-one to make comments or have opinions. There was just the two of them, the sun and the sand, and a moments freedom. T.J. let her arms slide up around Antonio’s neck as his own hands ran up and down her back, then pulled her a little bit closer. To hell with what happened next, the talking they were supposed to do, the fact they would have to face the real world again later. For now, this was all they wanted, and it felt very, very good to finally get it.


	32. Chapter 32

Alone together and free for the first time since the night they met, T.J. and Antonio started really communicating and realised they didn’t know as much about each other as maybe they should. Since leaving meant finding somewhere else to go and facing a world neither was quite ready for yet, they opted to stay and talk. Sat together on the sand with their arms around each other, they played some hybrid game of ‘truth or dare’ and ‘I’ve never’. They took turns asking questions, each getting sillier or deeper on each turn, and if either declined an answer the forfeit was a kiss. It was a win-win situation from both sides.

“And that’s the true story of how I got the scar,” said Antonio with as solemn a look as he could conjure.

T.J. tried not to laugh as she leant into him, running her thumb over the thin line near his wrist. She had overheard him in school telling his friends some epic tale about a knife fight. Turns out the knife had been in his own hand, when he was seven years old, and trying to help out at home by chopping veggies for his mom.

“You might just be the sweetest guy I ever met,” she sighed as she turned her head and looked into his eyes.

“Sweet? Really?” he questioned, his smirking lips soon meeting hers in a tender kiss.

“Also, incredibly hot,” she admitted, leaning against him. “Now, your turn. What do you wanna ask me next?” she offered, as head dropped onto his shoulder.

Honestly, T.J. felt like she could stay here forever. The sun was warm and the view towards the sea just beautiful. There was peace and quiet, enough shade from the boardwalk to keep them from burning, and Antonio’s arms around her was all the security she felt she could ever need.

“Hey, are you asleep?” she asked, poking him in the chest when he failed to ask her anything after too long.

“No.” He rolled his eyes, catching her hand and squeezing it before she could get him again. “I was just thinking, what happens next?” he asked her seriously, looking down from the horizon to meet her eyes. “I mean, this is cool, you and me alone. When we go back, I don’t think any of your parents are gonna like me very much, and you already know how it is with me and Sam.”

“I don’t care.” T.J. shook her head definitely. “Antonio, you know I really like you, I have from the start. If anybody doesn’t like that then... well, they can just get over themselves. I’m not losing you again, I won’t let it happen,” she swore, all confidence in one second and such a scared little girl the very next. “I mean, unless you don’t think we’re worth the fight?”

“T.J.,” he said too softly, his hand at her cheek and then pushing her hair back off her face. “You’re worth it,” he promised her. “You... you’re worth everything.”

When he kissed her again, the world went away. T.J. was pretty sure she was going to pass out if she didn’t breathe soon and yet she just couldn’t bear for the moment to be broken. So what if she should die from lack of oxygen, she thought absently, she was going to go happy!

* * *

“Wallace? What are you doing here?” asked Veronica, flying out of her seat the moment he walked in. “I thought you were waiting at the house in case T.J. came back.”

“I was,” her best friend agreed, reaching to catch her in a comforting hug. “Your dad came over after his drive around, he was practically asleep at the wheel after the job he pulled before,” he explained, still holding onto Veronica yet. “I figured he’d do better doing the sitting and waiting thing, and then I could come on over here, see if you’re okay.”

The sentiment was for Veronica but his eyes were moving between the three men in the room. If anything was going to be wrong with V right now, Wallace knew it’d be down to some kind of fist fight or even verbal sparring between any two of the three guys before him now. Weevil looked pretty relaxed in a nearby armchair, playing solitaire across the coffee table. Leo was in the corner by the window, whispering conspiritially with Amy, whilst Logan leant on the kitchen counter, face in his hands until he realised Wallace had walked in. The fact all the furniture was intact and nobody appeared bloodied or bruised was a miracle to Veronica’s best friend, given all their reps and ability to get mad at each other.

“We’re fine, just worrying,” said Veronica with a heavy sigh. “I still can’t believe T.J. has done this. I mean, I know it’s tough on her, I do get that,” she assured Wallace when he made a face. “Still, running away like this? She’s supposed to be smarter than that!”

“I’m sure she is smarter than that,” Logan agreed as he wandered over, “but y’know how it is with peer pressure. Bad influences. Teenage boys making you feel like you just have to do what they want-”

“Hey, you shut the hell up!” yelled Weevil then, up on his feet in an instant and pointing a threatening finger at his old adversary. “This ain’t all down to Antonio, you got that, Echolls?” he told him firmly. “T.J. knows her own mind. She ain’t so much your daughter as she is V’s, man.”

“Yeah, well, I guess she’s more my daughter than he’s your son, Weev.” Logan smirked annoyingly. “What’s up with that, huh? Not man enough to produce your own kids?”

That was all it took for the ex-biker to fly at Logan, fists up and face angry. Veronica almost knew it was coming but was hanging onto the last thread of hope that they were all just a little more grown up these days. Clearly that was too much to hope for. She would’ve got between them herself, if it weren’t for Wallace, gently shoving her out of the way and stepping in himself. He wasn’t a large guy, he never had been, and if Weevil or Logan had a mind to they could just crush him to get to each other. The fact was, they had a little more respect for Veronica’s BFF than that, it was what he was counting on.

“You’re gonna calm down now,” said Wallace definitely, a hand on both their chests, as Leo rushed over to make sure things were okay.

Weevil backed off for Veronica’s sake more than anything, but also because he wouldn’t give Logan the satisfaction of having him arrested for assault or at the very least escorted off the premises by security. The rich boy himself didn’t love being pushed around in his own home, and liked even less that one glance at Veronica showed true disappointment shining in her eyes. He was screwing up again already. Well, that hadn’t taken long, had it?

Turning on his heel, Logan walked away, letting the door swing violently behind him as he went through to the next room. Weevil turned his back to the audience and ran a hand over his face trying to find his calm. Leo and Wallace both seemed to let out the same sigh of relief that the moment had passed. Veronica couldn’t feel so good about it. This whole situation was such a mess and she couldn’t help but feeling like all of it was still her fault, after all, her lies had started it in the first place.

With a look of thanks to Wallace, she hurried out the door after Logan, surprised when he wasn’t actually in the next room over. She turned a full circle before she realised he had gone out through the glass doors onto the patio. When she approached him from behind, she found him staring into the pool, watching the tiny ripples the wind made, as if they were going to spell out the answers to the universe if he just watched long enough.

“Are you okay?” she asked, coming to stand beside him.

“Might be better if you let me and Weevil slug it out.” He shrugged slightly. “Be just like old times.”

Veronica sighed heavily.

“Are you really so eager to go back to how things were then?” she asked, looking sideways at Logan as he did the same. “The fights, the arrests, the daily struggle just to get by.”

“It still felt a lot simpler than this,” Logan told her honestly as he met her eyes. “I guess I wasn’t so far off about us being epic, huh?” he said then, a hint of a smile playing at his lips as his hand found hers. “Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, blood shed,” he quoted oh so easily from a heart-felt speech he’d made almost twenty years ago now. “Here we are again, after everything that’s happened.”

“Yeah.” Veronica nodded, not hating his hand around hers or the way he was looking at her right now.

Sure, they were in the middle of a crisis with their daughter missing, and their own relationship hadn’t really been properly defined since Logan had gotten back, but just for a few seconds, that was okay. A moment of calm passed over these two as they stood on the patio, holding hands like the teens they vaguely remembered being. In the end, it had to work out, right?

* * *

It had been a few hours now since Antonio had ridden out of Neptune High with T.J. hanging on to him. Now they were back on that motorcycle and taking the back-roads to a little diner on the other side of town that he knew pretty well. They had to be sneaky getting there, but so far they hadn’t been spotted. The fact was they had to leave the beach sometime, not least because they were both going to starve to death if they didn’t eat soon. The single candy bar in T.J.’s book bag only went so far!

“Your friend works here?” she checked as she stepped off the bike with Antonio, and took a glance at herself in the side mirror - her hair looked even worse than usual!

“Carlos, yeah.” He nodded his agreement. “His dad runs it, and he works a few shifts a week for extra cash. There’s no way he’s gonna tell anyone we’re here, he’s cool.”

“Your buddy Carlos might be cool, but parents stick together, Antonio,” T.J. told him, pulling on his arm to stop him going inside yet. “What if his dad sees us and calls my mom, or the Sheriff’s station, or worse, the press!”

Antonio could see she was freaking out and he did get it. This whole thing with finding out her dad was a movie star and then having the paparazzi constantly on her tail was a huge deal for T.J. Still, they had to face the music sometime, he knew that too. The truth was he had meant what he said about his friend Carlos and the diner. They’d be fine here for a while until they plucked up the nerve to go home.

“You trust me, right?” he said, pulling T.J. into his arms. “I mean, after today, I kinda hoped you did.”

“You know I do.” She sighed as she glanced up and met his eyes. “You think I would’ve jumped on the back of your motorcycle or shared some of my biggest secrets with you at the beach if I didn’t?” she asked, as if he were so dumb for ever questioning her.

“Those were your biggest secrets?” he teased her. “Wow, you’re boring.”

“Bite me!” she complained, socking him in the shoulder, even as she laughed loudly at his nerve.

“Don’t tempt me, babe.” He winked, pulling her by the hand and laughing just as much as they went inside the diner.

T.J. was fine with meeting Carlos and relieved to realise his dad was out right now. In fact, the seventeen year old buddy of Antonio was pretty much in charge until later in the evening, and made sure his friends got the most private table in the place. He even apologised for the fact he couldn’t given them a discount on the pizza they ordered, but he would be in so much trouble if he did.

“It’s fine, honestly,” T.J. assured him. “We just appreciate the discretion.”

“Hey, any friend of Antonio is a friend of mine.” Carlos winked before disappearing out back to get their food.

T.J. was surprised by the blush she felt rise in her cheeks. She really hadn’t expected a guy like that to look at her that way. Antonio was just different, special even. She was with him now and she loved it. Still, his friends looking at her with appreciative eyes was a strange feeling. She knew she must have gone through years of schooling with Carlos Romero, and he had never looked at her that way before.

“Are you seriously checking out my buddy on our first official date?” asked Antonio, only half joking when he realised T.J. was staring still.

“Don’t be dumb.” She slapped his hand where it held hers on the table. “I was just thinking about what a great time I’m having here with you.” She smiled genuinely. “Like I told you back at the beach, I, uh... I haven’t exactly had a whole bunch of boyfriends or even dates, and I know you probably think that’s lame-”

“I already told you, I don’t,” he reminded her. “I know guys aren’t supposed to admit it, but I haven’t had that many dates either. Not that I couldn’t get them,” he added quickly (a minor lie but a man had to do what a man had to do for the sake of his rep). “I just... I guess deep down I’m a romantic, y’know? I didn’t want just any girl, I wanted... Well, I want you.”

The blush came back to T.J.’s cheeks in an instant and she could’ve sworn she was burning up with 100 degree fever just from the way Antonio was looking at her across the table right now. It was a mercy that the pizza arrived at just that second, breaking the intensity of the moment this couple had caught themselves in. Still, it was kind of a nice if not overwhelming feeling, and T.J. couldn’t imagine wanting it to go away any time soon.

* * *

Weevil was getting bored, and that was making him even more annoyed. Antonio riding off with T.J. wasn’t such a big deal to him really. He knew the kid well enough to know he’d take care of himself and of his girl, that was not a concern. The worry was other people; the press, the cops, and the security that might yet find them. This whole thing was dragging on a little long, and Weevil was seriously regretting choosing the Echolls house to hang out in.

When things calmed down, he and Fennell had started playing cards. Even that was boring since Wallace proved to be a pretty lousy poker player. He offered the Sheriff to play too, but Leo declined. Honestly, Weevil didn’t wonder why. He wasn’t so dumb, he saw the looks that passed between V’s ex and Logan’s gopher. Something was brewing there, and that ought to make things interesting too.

Thankfully, Veronica and Logan themselves hadn’t come back yet. Weevil wasn’t sure he could deal with those two making goo-goo eyes at each other like the old days. He might just have to throw up if he saw that again!

“What was that?” Amy’s voice cut through the silence suddenly, a hand at her ear as she concentrated harder on what was being said over her comm device. “Put him through,” she instructed as a call was clearly connected to her. “Mr Casablancas? This is Amy, Mr Echolls personal assistant, I need you to... What? You found them?”

Everybody was on their feet at that moment, as Wallace rushed to fetch Veronica and Logan back into the room. They made it through the door just as Amy ended her call.

“That was Mr Casablancas and Miss Mackenzie.” She smiled at her employer. “They found T.J. and Antonio on their way over here. They’re bringing them home.”


	33. Chapter 33

Logan couldn’t sit down before T.J. was found. Once he got the news she was on her way over, that only made him more jittery and unable to stand still. Veronica was there at his side, gripping his hand, reminding him that no amount of yelling was going to make anything better. She would like to tell T.J. a few home truths as well, but getting mad wasn’t going to help. T.J. was a sensible girl for the most part, she had a good reason for feeling the need to run, and at least she had done so with a guy she was sure she could trust.

Wallace had offered to stay and play peacemaker, especially since Weevil and Leo were still present. He saw trouble coming, and V had to know he had a point. She assured him she could handle it, though no-one was eager to leave until they’d seen both T.J. and Antonio were fine. Besides, there was such a mixture of opinions on who should be where, and say and do what, it still wasn’t properly figured out by the time the kids arrived on the heels of the least likely couple Neptune had ever seen.

“Greetings pals and gals... and others,” said Dick with a grin that turned sour when he spotted Weevil and Leo.

“I think we’ve found a couple of things that belong to you,” added Mac, looking from Logan and Veronica over to Weevil.

All eyes turned to the two teens then, hovering just inside the door, her hand clasped tight in his. It was clear that whatever else happened whilst they were gone, T.J. and Antonio had fixed their differences. Weevil would bet his car that their trip had involved a serious amount of talking, and maybe even more making out.

“T.J.,” her mother rushed at her immediately and hugged her tight.

“I’m fine, Mom. Honestly.” She smiled as she hugged her back. “And I am sorry if we scared everybody, I just... I had to get away.”

“I’d like to just be proud of you for saving the damsel in distress,” said Weevil as he wandered over, “but honestly? Not even calling, Antonio? You freaked out these good people... and Logan,” he added with a smirk he couldn’t help.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking suitably shame-faced for that part. “It was just instinct to help when she got into trouble. Those paparazzi assho... idiots,” he amended off Weevil’s stern look - he almost forgot about the rules on cussing in front of women. “They were all over T.J. like a pack of dogs.”

“You can tell me all about it at home,” said Weevil then, pulling Antonio around to the door by his shoulder. “T.J.’s family gotta talk to her right now,” he pointed out, ushering the teen out of the room.

“I’ll call you,” Antonio yelled back to his girlfriend, and she tried not to blush as she nodded and waved a quick goodbye in front of all three of her parents plus others.

“Over my dead body,” Wallace heard Logan mutter and rolled his eyes at the attitude.

Still, he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t have a daughter of his own yet and even his son was a long way off being a teen. When they were grown, he had a feeling he’d feel just the same about them dating people he felt were unsuitable or whatever. He only hoped Veronica could stop Logan from going a little too gung-ho over T.J. dating Antonio before he made matters worse.

Leo shifted awkwardly on the other side of the room, caught between wanting to go straight over to T.J. and play the part of father that he had always been to her, and knowing he should let Logan take the lead. In the end, he moved to give his baby girl and hug, tell her he was glad she was okay, and promise to catch up with her later. Very soon after, he was leaving, and Mac made a point of encouraging Dick to take her home again.

“We just got here!” he complained. “Besides, we totally saved the day by stopping at that diner on the way over and finding these two-”

“If you leave without arguing I’ll make it worth your while,” Mac whispered near his ear, and suddenly they were out of the door in a flash, Wallace following behind with a startled expression.

To be fair, he hadn’t even known those two were dating until today. What he was pretty sure he just heard Mac whisper was even more disturbing. He shuddered at the very idea, told V he’d get back to her place and explain things to her dad, then start on dinner. She put a hand to his shoulder and thanked him sincerely.

“Then there were three,” said T.J., feeling weirdly nervous now she was alone with her parents.

Her mom was thrilled to see her, but T.J. also knew she’d be mad about her running off the way she had, nevermind the circumstances. Then there was Logan. There was really no telling how he was going to react. His expression was unreadable from across the room, and T.J. wondered if it would be any clearer if she were closer to him. Somehow she figured not.

“Sooo,” she said then, stretching out the word to three times its usual length.

“Get over here, Stephanie Zinone!” Logan snapped at her, apparently deciding the stern father routine was going to overrule all concern for his daughter’s safety just for now.

“What does that even mean?” asked T.J., though she did in fact move to face him.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” he told her crossly, arms waving in frantic gestures. “How much you scared your mother? How crazy everybody was getting while you were gone? How irresponsible-?”

“Oh my God, no way!” T.J. exploded the way most teens would. “No way do you get to do that speech,” she warned Logan, sounding a little too much like Veronica.

The fact was, the blonde herself took a step back from this and just let it happen. Personality clashes, she and Logan had plenty of those over the years, and it was going to happen just the same with father and daughter. She figured it would be good for them to really express what they were feeling here, might even give them a chance to connect on a new level, and they needed that. Besides, she had been the responsible parent teaching their daughter right and wrong all these years. It was nice to pass the baton today, she figured Logan would like this chance. For T.J., it just looked like an excuse to yell right now, but Veronica saw differently. Logan was upset because he loved his daughter so very much, and that would be just as clear to T.J. before this conversation was over, she was sure.

“Just because you’re my father by DNA,” the teen snapped. “That does not give you the right-”

“Actually, it does,” her father cut her off swiftly. “It gives me every right, and more than that-” His anger broke off in a second when he noticed the tears welling in T.J.’s eyes. “Look, T.J.” He sighed then. “I may only have met you a few weeks ago, but I know you better than anyone. You’re made up of Veronica and me, that makes me an expert.” He smiled slightly. “You think what you did was all badass and cool? You have no idea. Your mom and me? We wrote the books on teenage rebellion and getting into trouble, every single volume and then some.” He shook his head. “You just happen to be a whole lot luckier than I was, because when I was going off the rails and causing a stir, I didn’t have parents or family to care.”

T.J. was actually doing better when he was yelling at her. Now he was being sweet and kind and... fatherly, for want of a better term, she didn’t know how to deal.

“You have everything, T.J.,” Logan told her. “You have a mom and a grandfather, aunts and uncles, the guy that helped raise you, a whole bunch of friends. We care about you,” he insisted, putting a careful hand to her shoulder. “ _I_ care about you, and I have never, ever been more scared than when I thought something might happen to you that I couldn’t control or help with,” he explained with an unexpected lump in his throat. “The truth is I realised something when you were gone. I realised... that I could love someone else as much as I love Veronica,” he admitted, glancing from his daughter to his ex and back.

They were all on the verge of tears then, and T.J. just didn’t know what to say. Today had been such an emotional day, one of many just recently. She never really thought about Logan loving her. It was crazy enough that he was her father, and yet, she didn’t doubt that he was telling her the truth right now. He loved her mother and he loved her too. T.J. had scared him by running off the way she had, and as much as she’d like to put all the blame at his door, she couldn’t being herself to do it. Sure, the press wouldn’t’ve been chasing her if not for Logan’s star status, but the fact was that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was T.J. had a father standing here that cared about her so much, she wanted to cry. Instinct made her act then as she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight.

“I love you, T.J.,” promised Logan as he held onto his little girl.

Sure, she was sixteen and grown before he ever met her, but she was still his daughter and he did love her, more than he ever realised he could.

“I know,” she replied shakily. “I... I just...”

“It’s okay,” said Logan as he pulled back to look at her. “It’s okay, I don’t expect you to say it back,” he assured her, even if it hurt a little bit. “Especially if you don’t feel it.”

None of this was her fault after all.

“I want to,” she admitted, wiping a hand across her face to clean away the tears. “I do, I want you to be part of my family, like a proper part,” she told him honestly. “It’s just gonna take a while, I guess.”

Veronica swallowed hard as she allowed herself to step into the family moment at last.

“Well, we can work on that, right?” she suggested, putting an arm around her daughter, feeling Logan’s arm slip around her own back.

In this odd family group hug, they all laughed. It was an odd reaction, but all they had left in that moment to share.

“Yeah.” T.J. nodded then. “I think we can.”

* * *

“You okay?” asked Amy from just inside the back door.

Leo had just got done talking on his radio to the many deputies all over town. Some had been dispatched to help look for T.J., others charged with arresting the paparazzi that had all but attacked her, and start an investigation at the school. Now the worst was over, but the Sheriff didn’t exactly looked chipper. Amy couldn’t imagine what he was feeling, but she did want to help if she could.

“Honestly?” he replied to her question, turning around to flash her half a smile. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I mean, T.J. is back, she’s okay. Panic over...”

The words trailed away as he shrugged his shoulders not even knowing how to verbalise what came next. In some ways he had always thought this day might come, especially when they heard Logan was coming back to town. He was Teresa Jane’s real father, of course he was going to step into Leo’s shoes. The Sheriff had just been a place holder, and he knew it. That didn’t mean it hurt any the less.

“I’m sorry,” Amy sympathised, looking genuine enough. “First to lose your wife and then your daughter.”

“They were never really mine to lose.” Leo sighed heavily as he came to mimic her stance leaning against the opposite side of the door. “Veronica loved me, but never like she loved Logan. I was always second best, and I was okay with that. Being second best with T.J.? That’s the part that stings.” He shook his head. “But hey, who do I have to blame but myself? I walked in with my eyes wide open.”

Amy wished she knew how to make it better. It was true enough that what Leo and Veronica had done was wrong, keeping T.J. a secret from Logan and vice versa. At the same time, she could see how much this man loved the girl he had raised as his daughter, and how much he was hurting now he’d pretty much lost her. On top of that, he was clearly just a really sweet guy, and hot as anything in Amy’s eyes. If only things weren’t quite so mixed up and complicated right now, she might just try her luck with him.

“I’m sorry,” he said then, taking her odd stare as anything but what it really was. “I’m boring you with my self-pity, you don’t need that.”

“No, I do,” she answered too fast without really thinking, laughing at herself when she realised what she had said. “I mean, I don’t mind. If you need someone to talk to, you know I’m a good listener.”

Leo couldn’t argue with her. They had been left alone a couple of times before and she had proven her point then. She was a decent person, a little younger than him maybe, but not so much as to make it wrong that he liked her. Amy was the kind of woman Leo could see himself getting closer too, moving on with, maybe. Of course, his timing was a little crappy, but sometimes just diving in with both feet was the only way to get anything done.

“You wanna go out sometime?” he asked her out-right. “For a drink or... maybe dinner?”

Amy smiled slightly at the request, her eyes dipping to the floor for a moment.

“Is this just a ‘be my friend, I’m lonely’ kind of a dinner?” she asked him. “Or is it more like a date?”

Her smile suggested she was teasing him, but at the same time her questions were valid enough. If only Leo knew what the right and truthful answer was, he’d be fine.

“Would you believe a little of both?” he tried, with a too wide smile borne out of nerves - God it was a long time since he did all this!

Amy laughed prettily and tucked her hair back behind her ear as she looked across at him.

“Thursday is my night off,” she said. “It’s probably better if we meet at the restaurant. I don’t need my boss knowing anything about my dating life.”

“Okay.” Leo nodded once, pushing off the wall. “I’ll call you later, we’ll fix up a time and place.”

“Okay,” she replied in kind, cursing herself inside as she realised she was waving goodbye like a school girl until he was gone. “Get a grip, Summers,” she told herself sternly, and yet the grin was back before she ever made it inside the house.

* * *

“So, you and T.J., I guess that’s happening now, huh?” said Weevil as he drove back home with Antonio beside him.

The bike had been secured at Logan’s place, Amy had seen to that. The teen was to come pick it up when the furore of the press had died down. For now, he was riding home with step-daddy in the car.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” the teen agreed with a single nod. “You think her dad is gonna be okay with that?” he asked then.

Weevil couldn’t be sure if Antonio was feeling confident or nervous about this, especially since he daren’t take his eyes off the road too long to check. He didn’t want the kid being scared of Echolls, but at the same time, a little healthy respect for a chick’s parents was no bad thing.

“I think if you’d faced him today, he might have wanted to knock you into next Thursday for what he sees as kidnapping his baby girl,” explained Weevil, rushing in fast when it was clear Antonio was about to interrupt with denials of guilt. “Now, I know that ain’t right, but that’s just fathers and daughters, okay? Hell, when me and V used to hang, I don’t think Keith Mars was ever too impressed, and me and her weren’t even dating.”

“Why do I always get the feeling that you wish you had been?” asked Antonio with a hint of a smirk that was almost identical to one Weevil often wore.

“’Cause you’ve got an imagination on you, kid,” the ex-biker told him, trying not to give anything away. “Fact is guys like us and chicks like that, it’s always gonna be complicated, but if you really like T.J. - and I’m talking about genuinely wanting to be with her for real, and she feels the same - pretty sure it’ll work out.”

Antonio felt a little weird talking about this with Weevil. Guys weren’t into discussing emotions and feelings and all that mushy stuff. Still, on the other hand it was nice that somebody seemed to get it. His friends all made fun of him, and of each other, if they seemed to have a crush. Girls were meant to be hot or an easy lay, that’s what some of the guys seemed to think. He wondered if they ever did quite as much as they said with the girls they dated. He even wondered if they understood what it was to like somebody as much as he liked T.J., for more reasons than just because she was hot and willing.

“It’s gonna get weird.” Antonio sighed then. “I mean, dating a movie star’s daughter? Not exactly something a guy like me thinks he’s gonna be doing.”

“Man, nobody expects that,” Weevil assured him, “but you’re a smart kid, and so is T.J. Your mothers raised you two right, so I have every confidence, okay?”

“Yeah.” Antonio nodded, looking sideways at the guy he expected to be calling step- father sooner rather than later. “Thanks, man. That means a lot.”

“No problem, kid.” Weevil smiled to himself as they drove on home.


	34. Chapter 34

“I can’t tell you how glad Neptune High is to have your support, Logan,” said Van Clemmons with an enormous grin, the like of which Veronica would swear she’d never before seen on his face. “Your generosity to your old school is very much appreciated.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Van,” replied Logan as he shook hands with the principal one more time.

His smile was just as wide as Clemmons’ but Veronica know it was six times more fake. Logan was not thrilled to be here and was completely unmoved by the gratitude of one of his many old nemeses. He and Veronica had quite the rap sheet between them, pulled up in front of the Vice Principal, as Van had been back then, more times than they could count. Now it was necessary for the current Principal to crawl and be kind in the face of Logan’s unprecedented kindness, not just because the former student was a movie star now, but because of the major screw up with security where T.J. was concerned.

Veronica couldn’t blame Mr Clemmons so completely for the issues with the paparazzi a couple of weeks ago now. She had managed to calm Logan down before he raced over here and tore the principal limb from limb for his incompetence. Instead they had come up with a reasonable plan, and now the agreement had been made. Logan was donating some memorabilia and autographed items to the school for a charity auction, on the understanding that some of the money raised would go towards better security, not just for T.J., of course, but for the school at large. A formal apology had been given to both of T.J.’s parent regarding the indiscretions over her fame, and everything finally seemed to have been settled.

As Veronica and Logan left the office, with Van Clemmons promising them over an over how things were much better now and forever would be, neither were entirely lienstening.

“Wow,” said Logan, when the two of them were finally alone. “Is it just me having the flashback moment?” he asked, looking sideways at Veronica.

“Nope,” she agreed with a smile she couldn’t help.

It was true enough that she had visited good old Neptune High several times since T.J. started attending here, whereas Logan wouldn’t’ve set foot in the place since their own graduation. Still, she hadn’t been here with him, having stepped out of the principal’s office like they were two kids just got done being punished for their latest crime.

“Are you remembering the time we got pulled into Clemmons office for, uh... a public display of affection that got out of hand?” asked Logan then, the most wicked smirk on his lips as Veronica looked his way.

“Nope,” she said again, even as she nodded her head ‘yes’.

They both cracked up because there was just nothing else to do or say. The past two weeks had given them time to reconnect, to talk things over, and find a way forward. Moments like this still felt weirdly awkward though, remembering how close they used to be. The heady days of making out in the girls bathroom, running around behind the backs of their friends, just praying they didn’t get caught. Now the whole world knew their business, knew they were at least friends again, and that they were working together to raise a teenage daughter.

“We should go wait in the car,” said Veronica, reaching for Logan’s hand to drag him away down the hall. “The final bell is all of ten minutes away and if T.J. is seen with us it’d be, like, social suicide!” she said with over-sold dramatics.

“Ah, to be a teenager.” Logan rolled his eyes as he allowed himself to be led away. “So much drama, heartache and pain.” He sighed then, gripping Veronica’s hand tight in his as they headed down towards the exit. “But y’know, I’d go back, do it all again, just the same.”

Veronica would like to argue with him, sure that he would indeed do some things differently back then. She knew she would, that was a definite, but she wasn’t about to spoil the mood. The sentiment of his words was clear enough, he just wanted to go back to how the two of them used to be, in those brief moments when they were happy, she supposed. She couldn’t deny it was appealing, and yet, she was pretty okay with the way things were now too.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, leaning into him a little as they cleared the doors. “The past is a nice place to visit, but the future’s looking pretty bright too.” She smiled, happily accepting his kiss when he moved to put his lips to hers.

It was as far as they’d gone at this point. A little hand holding, a little kissing. It occurred to the both of them that at their age and given their past, it ought to be simpler just to jump in with both feet, especially after all this wasted time. Of course, being older also made them both a little wiser, thank God. They both knew that fools rushed in, and there was more than just themselves to think about here. Anything Veronica and Logan did, any decision they made, it would affect T.J. too. They had to take things slowly and carefully, even if it killed them sometimes to back away.

“Logan, stop glaring at the inanimate objects,” Veronica told him with a look of mock-severity. “They’re just motorcycles, they didn’t do anything wrong,” she reminded him as she encouraged him across the parking lot.

“I don’t have to like our sixteen year old daughter dating one of those guys,” he countered, such venom in his words and expression, Veronica couldn’t help but laugh at what she saw as over-dramatics.

“Yeah, like T.J. was ever going to be happy with some straight-A preppy nerd type.” She rolled her eyes. “She has taste like her mother. A little bad streak in a man just makes him that much more enticing.” She smirked when Logan looked her way again.

He couldn’t argue with her given his own reputation back in the day. As it turned out, Antonio did seem to be a decent young man. He had a reasonable GPA and attendance, he called Logan ‘sir’ until invited to do otherwise, and his eyes never left T.J. when they were together. As much as Logan would love to hate the kid and find a whole host of things wrong with him, it seemed impossible so far. That didn’t seem fair somehow.

As Logan and Veronica got into the back of his car (black, bullet-proof, and chauffeur-driven as usual), his cell went off in his pocket. He wasn’t surprised when he read the screen and saw who was calling.

“Hey, Mac,” he greeted her with a genuine smile, even though she couldn’t see it. “You have good timing, that’s a recommendation all by itself.”

Veronica leaned in close to Logan across the back-seat to listen in to his conversation with her best girl-friend. It wasn’t as if she shouldn’t hear, it was only about work, and it had been partly Veronica’s idea too.

It was a couple of days after T.J. and Antonio’s runaway act that Logan invited Dick and Mac over for dinner as a thank you for bringing the kids home. Veronica had been there too and the two couples had some kind of hybrid mini-reunion and catch-up session.

When Mac had mentioned leaving Casablancas Enterprises, they had started coming up with ideas of what she might do next, from the perfectly reasonable to the completely wacky as the bottles of wine went down at a fair speed. One of the most sensible ideas had actually been borne out of a crazy one. Logan had said he was so rich he could afford to employ Mac doing whatever she wanted, at which point Veronica had chipped in with the thought that she could run his fanclub. From there a real business opportunity had been born.

With a little help from Logan and his many friends and contacts, Mac was setting herself up as a web consultant, assisting in the designing, building, and running of sites for famous people who wanted to connect with their adoring public.

“Sure, tomorrow morning should be fine,” Logan assured Mac, regarding the meeting they needed to have, “but do me a favour, text Amy and double-check with her? Would you believe I sometimes forget appointments?”

There was laughter at that one and a few moments later Mac ended the call, with further thanks to Logan for all his help. Veronica sighed happily and let her head drop onto Logan’s shoulder.

“I kind of love how things are working out right now,” she admitted. “I mean, T.J. is adjusting well, you and me are doing fine, and Mac is starting this whole new adventure, with Dick at her side no less.” She frowned a little at that before finding her smile again. “It’s not just me, right? Those two together is still a little freaky?”

“They are not exactly an obvious pairing,” Logan admitted, “but then there was a time when some people might’ve said that about us,” he suggested, his hand moving to push Veronica’s hair back off her face. “I can’t imagine ever wanting to be with any other woman but you, Veronica Mars. I never could.”

They were soon kissing again, oblivious to anything at all. Both were entirely grateful for their driver, Carson, coughing loudly and breaking them apart before T.J. managed to catch them.

“Hey.” She smiled just a little awkwardly as she hurried to get into the car and close the door behind her. “So, I need to ask a favour.”

“Ah, that lesser heard teenage phrase,” said Logan sarcastically as ever.

“It’s a small favour,” she insisted. “It’s just... I know I’m supposed to be coming over to your place for quality time, and I do want to, it’s just we have this project due for bio, and Sam is my partner. We have to work on it tonight so can she please come over? Just for a while?”

Logan sighed like it was a huge inconvenience before a smile he couldn’t help broke through.

“What kind of father would I be if I denied you a decent chance at getting your homework done?” he said, making T.J. grin. “Where is the lovely Samantha?”

“Right here,” the girl herself said then as she dived in the car from the other side.

She had clearly been poised waiting for the right answer. She shouldn’t really have been able to hear through the protective glass, but Logan didn’t ask how she managed it. Sam was smarter than she appeared, he suspected, and thankfully she seemed to be getting over her crush on him. For that, Logan was eternally grateful.

Maybe the adults in the car would be less impressed if they realised what the teens opposite them were really talking about. There seemed to be some kind of code in play and anything they really couldn’t communicate was obviously written on the notepads they were holding. No two girls could ever giggle this much over homework, and Logan daren’t ask what the real topic was. It had to be boys, in fact when he threw a questioning look at Veronica that was the very word she mouthed his way. Some parts of being a father were going to take much more getting used to than Logan was ready for.

* * *

“So, did you get that homework project done?” asked Logan, as he watched T.J. finish off her dinner.

Sam had left after a couple of hours of supposed studying and Veronica, T.J., and Logan had sat down to eat. They were half way into their food when Keith called his daughter and requested her urgent assistance. He was on the trail of a bad guy and there was no way he could take him down without back up. Veronica had apologised profusely, but both T.J. and Logan knew how important it was for her to go. Of course, father and daughter hadn’t spent that much time actually alone together before and it was still awkward with a side of weird when the situation occurred.

“Um, kind of, yeah,” said T.J. awkwardly, not wishing to add to the lies she already told.

The truth was, there really wasn’t any homework that needed desperate attention. Sam knew T.J. was coming over to the Echolls house tonight and she just needed an invitation. Her BFF was happy to help out this time around, since Sam’s crush on Logan seemed to have all but evaporated. He became less attractive when he was somewhat obtainable, it seemed, and Sam had started working on a new crush. It still meant she needed to get over to Logan’s place as much as possible, because the young man in question was the newest member of the Echolls house security staff.

“What’s the deal, T.J.?” her father asked then, staring across the table at her in a way only a parent could. “Was Sam here hoping to get a lock of my hair for some Satanic ritual? Should I be doubling security against her?”

“No!” T.J. laughed at his obviously over-the-top suggestions. “It’s nothing like that. Actually having your security right up against her is kind of what Sam would want... and I wish I hadn’t said that in front of my dad.” She shook her head with realisation then.

Logan bit his lip to keep from smiling wide enough to split his face in two. When T.J. noticed she asked what was so funny.

“Not funny,” he assured her, hands raised momentarily in mock surrender. “It’s just, well, that’s the first time I ever heard you refer to me as your dad.”

T.J. hadn’t even really noticed that she’d done it. The realisation made her feel strange, an odd mixture of warm happy and awkward guilt. Leo had been her dad for sixteen years, even if biology made it a lie. She shouldn’t feel bad but it seemed wrong to feel good also.

“It’s still weird,” she admitted, shifting awkwardly. “It helped to talk to Aunt Mac though. I can’t believe she went through all that.” She shook her head. “I mean, absent father who didn’t even know I existed, that’s pretty bad, but being raised by the wrong parents, with your real folks right across town? She is so much stronger than me.”

“I don’t think stronger is the right word,” said Logan with genuine consideration. “That takes a different kind of strength, maybe, but don’t sell yourself short, T.J. What you’ve been through has taken guts too. You’ve handled this better than most teenagers would, probably better than I would have at your age.” He smiled.

T.J. wasn’t really sure how to take that compliment from him. She knew from stories both Logan and her mom had told that they had been less than stable in their teen years. Maybe they wouldn’t have handled a situation like this so well. T.J. wasn’t entirely sure how she had come to be this calm about it, but the people around her had been very supportive and helpful. She had no real complaints right now.

“Sometimes... sometimes I still feel like I’m being pulled in two directions,” she admitted, eyes concentrated on the glass table top where her fingers made patterns in a little spilt soda. “I mean, it’s cool being here and getting to know you, but my dad... um, Leo, he raised me, and I can’t just forget that, y’know?”

“Hey,” said Logan then, putting a finger under T.J.’s chin and getting her to look at him. “I’m not saying I love the fact that you still call another man your dad, but I don’t ever, _ever_ want you to feel bad about it,” he told her seriously. “Leo was a big part of your life, I get that. I would never want to make you feel like you were doing something wrong by wanting to see him or love him or whatever, okay?”

“Okay.” T.J. nodded then. “Thanks, Logan.” She smiled at his kindness.

A second later, she shook off the moment, quite literally in fact. It was strange when they fell into serious topics like that, and thankfully it didn’t happen often. Most times, Logan was happy to tell her stories from his life, and to listen to her wax lyrical about her own. They were learning to become a part of each others lives and it felt good.

“So, you were making allusions about the charming Samantha and my security staff?” said Logan in the awkward pause that followed.

“Yes, I might have done that.” T.J. smirked, every inch her father’s daughter for a moment. “She may in fact have a crush on a certain hottie that’s being trained to protect your expensive trinkets and beautiful family,” she joked. “I swear, all I’ve heard for over two weeks is Connor this and Connor that.”

“Connor Mason?” Logan’s eyes were wide at that. “Well, he’s a little more age appropriate than yours truly,” he considered.

“It is definitely better having your BFF crushing on a guy that works for your dad than your actual dad,” said T.J., rolling her eyes at how crazy Sam could be.

Honestly, she was just trying not to focus on the fact she had said ‘Dad’ in reference to Logan again - it was becoming an odd habit. Her cell buzzing on the table was a good and well-timed distraction. The smile that spread across her lips told Logan immediately who was texting her.

“That Antonio?” he asked as casually as he could, pulling together the empty plates to clear the table, just for something else to do.

“Uh-huh.” T.J. nodded as she hammered out a reply with both thumbs.

When she was done she was grinning as she pushed her phone into her pocket.

“One day you might even manage to say his name without the face.” She smiled sweetly, as Logan feigned ignorance as to her meaning. “Oh, come on!” she laughed then. “The expression like you just sucked on a lemon? You think I don’t see that?”

“I’m trying, I swear.” Logan sighed. “Me and your Uncle Weev, we have a bumpy road behind us, but I know that’s not your fault, or Antonio’s either.”

T.J. did appreciate the effort he was making. It had to be strange having his daughter dating an old enemies step-son, and that Antonio would officially be in a few short weeks when Weevil and Lena got married.

It was almost as if everybody was pairing off and playing happily families these days, and T.J. couldn’t mind. She would like to think that this time next year, maybe even sooner, all the drama would’ve calmed to a dull roar and everybody would be happy enough. The next time a phone buzzed it wasn’t hers, and T.J looked to Logan as he answered his personal cell that very few people had the number for.

“Veronica?” he said as he answered it. “Congratulations, sweetheart,” her boyfriend told her, letting T.J. get close enough to add her own ‘way to go’ to the mix.

Another case busted wide open, another criminal caught. Veronica Mars was still kicking butt and taking names. The world was just exactly as it should be.


	35. Chapter 35

In all her years, Veronica Mars never imagined herself here doing this kind of thing. Right now she was standing at the back of a large dining room, with a table set up for more people than she could count on both hands and then some. Sure, she had dated Duncan, Logan, and Troy, all rich boys that could have landed her in the lap of luxury one day. Despite that, she never had herself down for the little housewife role and still wouldn’t entirely want that to be all that her life entailed. Thankfully, she got to be a kickass P.I., a loving mother, and a celebrity’s girlfriend all rolled into one. It was a heck of a lot for one woman, but Veronica had always known she was destined for life with a full plate.

“Wow,” said Logan as he appeared in the doorway opposite.

“Looks pretty good, huh?” said his girlfriend as she crossed the room to meet him.

“There aren’t words,” he promised her, though his eyes were for her alone and nowhere near the exquisitely decorated room and table.

She smiled as she went easily into his arms and they shared a kiss. It was like living a dream in this moment, the two of them here alone on such a great day. Thanksgiving was for looking at what you had and smiling no matter how long or short the list turned out to be. Veronica had never felt so blessed as she was on this particular occasion. She thought she could spend all day long listing every bright spot of her life, and still have more left to say.

“We all set for our wonderful guests?” asked Logan then, his arms holding onto her still.

“Pretty much.” Veronica nodded. “I think I finally got the place cards in some kind of order where everyone will be happy.” She sighed as she surveyed the table one last time.

“I’m not next to Weevil, right?” he asked worriedly, and honestly, she wasn’t quite sure if he was joking.

“You are at the head of the table, where the head of the house should be,” she told him, sliding out of his arms so she could gesture to places at the table. “We have you, Mac and Dick, Sam and Connor,” she explained as she made her way down the right side. “Amy and Leo, Mrs Harper, and my dad, with me this end,” she continued, before coming back up the left of the table. “Then we have little Toby, Melissa, Wallace, and baby Chenisse, Antonio and T.J., Weevil and Lena... and then we’re back to you.” She smiled as she stepped over into his arms a second time in as many minutes.

“Well then, I get the best view of anyone.” He grinned, leaning in to kiss her lips.

They hadn’t quite made contact when a voice called to them from the door.

“Eeeew!” T.J. over-did the dramatics on purpose as she covered her eyes with one hand, peeking through her fingers at her parents. “Could you two please not give me nightmares?” She smirked, a worthy portrait of both Veronica and Logan combined as she came further into the room.

“Did we really create this monster, hon?” asked Veronica with a look.

“Afraid so, sugarpuss,” Logan replied with a grin, not even caring that T.J. was rolling her eyes at their antics.

“How am I not scarred for life?” She sighed, though her own smile broke through in a moment.

It was still weird knowing she had a father she hadn’t met until she turned sixteen, and of course that he was a movie star, but she was adjusting. Honestly, it was kind of okay being a minor celebrity sometimes, and it was very cool to see her mom so happy. Leo was a good guy and her parents had been happy enough when T.J. was growing up, but Veronica and Logan, they were just... epic.

“So, Uncle Weevil called,” she said, shaking herself out of a minor daydream. “He said to warn you, Lena is bringing a pumpkin pie. He tried to tell her you said not to bring anything, but she refuses to show up empty-handed.”

“Well, that’s very sweet of her, and I’m sure it’ll be delicious.” Veronica smiled, even as Logan’s expression shifted to something less than impressed.

“Huh,” said T.J. as she stared at her father a moment. “You’re right, Mom. You can totally tell when he’s trying not to make the lemon-sucking face.”

With that she grinned a super-wide grin, and then practically ran from the room before Logan had a chance to say a word. In truth, he had nothing to say, he just laughed at her gall and at how very much like her mother she could be some times.

“Shows what she knows,” he said after a moment. “This is actually my I’d rather be spelunking face.” He smirked at Veronica and loved how hard she laughed.

“Thief,” she told him, leaning in to kiss his cheek, spinning away a second before he had a chance to reach for her. “That was my line!” she reminded him of what he already knew as she left the room.

“Hey, where are you going now?” he called after her. “I thought all the prep was taken care of and the guests won’t be here for at least an hour!”

“Yes, but I have to change clothes for dinner,” said Veronica stopping by the door and peering back over her shoulder at him with a playful look in her eyes. “You wanna come help me with that?”

Logan did not need asking twice.

* * *

It was a joyful noise as everyone sat around the dining table, happily chatting and laughing, as they all enjoyed the food and the company. To anyone outside of their circle of family and friends, they probably looked like an odd bunch, but that didn’t matter. Everybody had manners enough, especially on Thanksgiving, that nobody complained about baby Chenisse spitting up during the starter, Logan and Weevil managed not to drag up the past, race, or money, and neither the parents nor the kids present made any comments about each others canoodling, for want of a better term. Nobody even brought up the fact that when they arrived at Logan’s place, Veronica looked flushed and her boyfriend’s shirt was buttoned wrong. It was just better not to ask!

The happy bunch were contemplating how much more dessert they could handle when Keith clinked a fork against his wine glass and got everyone’s attention.

“So, uh... I know nobody wants to hear a speech, and it’s not actually my house to make one in anyway,” he apologised. “Thing is my family have a tradition, no matter whether it’s been a good or bad year, we all sit around the table like this and we say what we’re thankful for,” he explained to the assembled group. “If Logan doesn’t mind, I’d like to continue that tradition.”

“Be my guest,” the head of the table gestured with his glass. “In fact, I think you should start, sir,” he said politely, making Veronica smile.

“Well, okay.” Keith nodded. “I would like to say that I am thankful for my daughter and for my granddaughter,” he said, putting his hand over Veronica’s own on the table and looking down the table at T.J. “The two of them, they’ve been through so much in their lives, a lot of ups and downs, but they always come through it with a smile and their good hearts intact. I am so proud of both Veronica and Teresa Jane,” he said, almost welling up as he did so.

“Oh, that was beautiful,” said Mrs Harper, a hand flapping in front of her face as if that would help quell her own tears. “Well, I have to say I am thankful for my daughter, Samantha.” She smiled down the table at the embarrassed teen, before continuing. “And honestly, as shocking as this is going to sound, I’m thankful my husband got stuck in Europe for Thanksgiving, because my God, I am at a table with Logan Echolls!”

That one got a laugh from everyone, more so when the poor woman blushed scarlet at her own admission. The giving of thanks then passed to the left, with Leo expressing thanks for finally getting a thanksgiving off duty, and Amy saying she was glad for a day off herself and for her boyfriend. Connor borrowed from Mrs Harper, admitting he was glad that snow prevented him from flying home this year, and Sam claimed to be most thankful for T.J. being her BFF... and for her new Prada backpack, if she was being honest. Dick was thankful for Mac, and Mac was thankful for her new business that was taking off so well. Logan claimed not to need to say a word, because if the whole world didn’t know what he was thankful for at this point they never would; his eyes remained on Veronica for a long moment and then on Teresa Jane maybe even a beat longer.

Then came the turn of the guests on the other side of the table. Lena was thankful for getting a chance to make a family with Eli and Antonio, whilst Weevil was grateful for a second chance, that was in reality more like his seventh or similar. Then it was T.J.’s turn.

“Um, okay,” she faltered.

Clearing her throat three times, she still didn’t feel ready to speak. Antonio’s hand slid around hers under the table, and that helped more than he would ever know. She had so much to say, she just wasn’t sure how to get it all out right now. Somehow facing the general public was easier than talking so honestly in front of all the people she loved most in the world.

“Okay, so I am thankful for every single person at this table,” she admitted eventually. “You all mean so much to me, each one of you in a different but equally as important way.” She smiled as she looked at each of them. “I only hope that this time next year we’ll all be here again and just as happy as we are now... and I’m done being corny.” She laughed at herself, though nobody else found her corny in the least.

“How do I follow that?” asked Antonio nervously. “Well, I’m thankful for my mom being so happy with Weevil,” he admitted. “And I’m really, really thankful that I got a chance to meet and get to know T.J., ‘cause she’s like the most amazing girl I ever knew,” he told her seriously, eyes boring into her own, the two of them seemingly forgetting their parents, relations, and friends were all present for a moment.

“And how am I supposed to follow that?” asked Wallace too seriously, breaking the odd moment of tension.

He and his wife were both obviously thankful for each other and their adorable children. On top of that, they were entirely glad to be back in California where both their families and so many friends lived. It was a real stroke of luck that just around the time of Chenisse’s birth, Wallace was offered the chance to head up a new division back home, where both he and Melissa came from. It was like a dream come true for the whole Fennell family and everyone who loved them.

“Guess that just leaves me.” Veronica smiled as she looked down the table at the faces of every single person she held dear. “Where do I start?” She shook her head, sure she was never going to get through any kind of big speech without crying like a baby. “As my daughter put it so beautifully, I am also very thankful for every person at this table,” she admitted. “I don’t... I can’t ever deserve all the love and warmth I get from this wonderful extended family I have here, but I swear, I am thankful for you all, every single day,” she cried then, unable to hold it in any longer.

Keith leaned over to hug his daughter, and in a few moments she had gained a little composure. There was nothing anybody else could say after such a speech. The truth was that Veronica had a point in what she said, because she knew better than anyone the wrong she had done. Thankfully, she had found a way to move past all the pain, and everyone around her had done the same. It was time now to look to a bright future, and everyone seemed prepared for that with a smile on their face.

“A toast,” said Logan, raising his glass and encouraging everyone else to do the same. “To family,” he said, looking down the table at each person sitting there. “By blood or otherwise,” he offered.

“To family,” Weevil agreed, going so far as to make the effort to lean over and clink glasses with the rich white boy he never could stand. “Hell, it’s Thanksgiving, right?”

“To family,” everyone else dutifully intoned, clinking glasses with the person next to or even opposite them.

Teresa Jane looked around at all the smiling faces and realised she herself was wearing the biggest grin of anyone. It wasn’t always easy being a teenage girl in Neptune with a mixed up family, three parents, and a boyfriend from the supposed wrongs side of the tracks, but it was her life, and right now, she wouldn’t change it for the world.


End file.
